Glee: Songs of the Heart
by ClockworkAngel98
Summary: When Emily Andrewson left England she never imagined what would await her in America, Secrets, Scandals and Songs are simply the start of her new life. Set in the period of season three, hope you guys enjoy it! Rated T for language and some adult themes
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One.

I wandered down the tiled corridor thinking the floor looked more like a hospital wards rather than a school's. I sighed heavily, I hated this school, I hated this town and I hated this country why the hell we had to move from England to America I will never know and not to LA or New York. Ohio. Freakin' Ohio! To the smallest crappiest town of all; Lima. They even had a name for people who live here. Lima losers. And then there was the school with a shitty grade average, shitty teachers and even shittier students. I was what the Americans called a junior, and I was here in Lima until I graduated college. _Christ I hate my life_. The only good thing about moving to America was that I got a fresh start, I was going to turn everything around this year. I stopped suddenly as I saw two football players throw some sort of icy drink at this guy. He threw his head back in shock and gasped as the coldness smacked his nerve endings. Everyone else just carried on as if nothing happened. The only acknowledgement to the ordeal was that the students stepped out of the way to avoid slipping on the red substance that had dripped onto the floor. "Holy crap!" I raced forward towards the boy "Oh my God, are you okay?" he looked stunned

"Why are you talking to me?" I furrowed my brows in confusion

"Because you just got smacked in the face with a drink!" I replied and pulled down my hoodie sleeve to wipe he red ice crystals off his face. He had light brown hair, pale skin, blue eyes and a slightly up turned nose.

"It's called being Slushied and is a daily occurrence here at McKinley High." he sighed

"Why?" I asked trying to scrape the Slushie out of his hair

"Because I'm gay." he said but I didn't falter

"That's terrible!" I said and rummaged in my bag for a tissue

"You're still helping me?" he asked nervously

"Yeah it's called common courtesy, something the English know about." I said and rubbed the ice away from under his eye

"English?"

"Yeah I'm from England, just moved here last week." I explained and got the last of the Slushie off of his pale face

"Oh no wonder you're helping me, you mustn't know how things work around here." I stood back and raised my brows

"Even if I did know how things worked, I would still help you. Just because you're gay doesn't give people an excuse to through crystallised drinks in your face." he chortled and stuck out his hand

"I'm Kurt Hummel." I shook and replied

"Emily Andrewson." I smiled and he asked what lesson I had next I replied Spanish.

"Oh I have that too, the teacher's really cool. He also teaches glee club." Kurt explained

"What's glee club?" I asked and he stopped suddenly

"My girl you have not lived! I must educate you!" he linked his arm through mine and grinned as we carried on past the many rows of lockers. "Glee club is basically like a choir only it's a show choir. We sing much more upbeat songs and compete for the national championship. We also have a hell of a lot more fun. However..." he trailed off

"What?"

"We also get a lot of stick about it, for example being thrown into lockers."

"Jesus that's horrible!" I exclaimed as we reached the Spanish room and Kurt lead me to the seat next to him, he waved a hello to a couple to other people.

"Yeah but being in glee is worth it. Last year we got to nationals but Rachel and Finn, the lead vocalists, kissed on stage because they had just gotten back together like halfway through the song. So we came 12th but this year we're determined to win." I nodded approvingly

"I'm sure you will." he sighed in response

"Trouble is we need more members otherwise we can't qualify, but considering how much everyone hates us I highly think it's possible we'll even get one person to join." I mulled this over as people filled up around us. Then the teacher walked in and Kurt whispered "That's Mr Schue, you'll love him. Most girls do." I shook my head slightly; nope he seemed nice but not really my type. The lesson continued with him reciting vocab for us to repeat and copy in our notes, the bell rung for lunch and I followed Kurt out.

"Hey can I sit with you, you're really the only person who's talked to me..." I trailed off

"Sure Emily." he smiled

"Thanks." I walked side by side with him to the cafeteria and grabbed a sandwich and milk from the canteen. Kurt then led me over to a table filled with a mix of guys and girls.

"Everyone this is Emily, she just moved here from England." Kurt announced to those gathered at the table. A tanned boy with a Mohawk spoke first

"England eh? How's the weather over on the white cliffs of Dover? Move here with the queen did you?" he used a very posh and stereotyped accent and I replied in a gruff and northern English tone

"No, get into a fight with your razor is morning? Because I'm pretty sure your Mohawk is lopsided." the table laughed and the boy smiled appreciatively

"I like your style, I'm Puck." he said, a short brunette girl with a rather large nose spoke up next

"Hi I'm Rachel and this is Finn." she motioned to the boy who sat next to her and I thought to myself '_the ones who lost them nationals!'_

"Oh err hi…" I stuttered and the rest of the table introduced themselves, there was an Asian girl; Tina, a boy in a wheel chair called Artie and a black girl called Mercedes. I sat next to Kurt and smiled at each of them and found out more about them all. Artie was paralyzed from the waist down and I smiled apologetically at him as he explained the accident he had been in, Finn and Puck were both on the football team, Rachel was…intense, to say the least, Mercedes was pretty awesome and so was Tina, they asked me questions about England and what it was really like. I cleared up most of the stereotypes that they thought were true and in turn they taught me about America and the things that happened in Ohio. I grinned appreciatively at them as we walked out of the cafeteria to next period, English. The lesson passed quickly with me sitting in between Mercedes and Kurt. _I may have just found some friends._

The bell rung for the end of school and I made my way to my locker. I turned the dial to unlock it and suddenly something smacked against the locker next to mine. I yelped in surprise and closed the door to see what it was. Kurt lay in a heap on the floor next to me, his legs were twisted, his books strewn around him and his eyes glazed with tears. "See ya later Gleeatch!" A ginger hockey player with a mullet yelled and high fived his team, Kurt gazed up at their forms that disappeared into the crowd.

"Oh my God, Kurt, are you okay?" I asked in sympathy and kneelt down next to him.

"Y-yeah I'm fine…" he whispered and my face crumpled with empathy

"Is it because of Glee? Or because you're gay?" I asked tentatively

"Both." He sighed and started to gather his books, I helped him. "Why are you here Emily?" he said suddenly "You're clever, funny, you have an amazing personality. You could be one of the popular ones, a cheerleader even! Why are you hanging out with me, Porcelain, the gay Glee clubber?"

"Because I want to be here, I hate the popular kids all they ever do is prey on the younger students, latch onto weakness and make us suffer for it. Besides you wouldn't catch me dead in one of those cheerleading outfits." I grinned and Kurt smiled back "And why the hell are you called Porcelain?"

"Oh that's Coach Sue's nickname, she gives all the Glee clubbers a name, Artie's Wheels, Mercedes is Aretha, Santana's changes but usually its Sandbags and Mike and Tina are Asian 1 and Asian 2."

"That's extraordinarily racist." I remarked and Kurt shrugged

"Sue doesn't care." I offered him my hand and hauled him up off the floor as we walked along the corridor. "I have Glee practise so I'll see you tomorrow." He smiled and I smiled back as he veered off down a different corridor and I walked out the main entrance.

It was my third day of school at McKinley High and as I wheeled Artie to the lunchroom I thought how in the space of 24 hours my life had gone from shit to pretty amazing. I had a small group of friends and Artie said he was going to introduce me to his other friends. We waited in the lunch queue and I grabbed another sandwich while Artie got meatballs and spaghetti. We sat at the table with Tina and the few people who I already knew sat down around me, Artie was at the head of the table whereas I was next to Tina at the opposite end. Puck, Mercedes, Kurt and Finn sat down next then a couple of other people who I didn't know sat down, Tina introduced me to her boyfriend Mike who was also Asian and she said he was an amazing dancer, I nodded approvingly. "I like to dance as well." I said and Mike grinned

"We should get together to compare moves sometime, I have new one I'm working on, it would be great to get an outsiders opinion."

"Sure, I'd love that." I replied with a grin

"If you like dancing you'll love Brittany." Mike said and gestured to a tall blonde girl who had just sat down on the opposite side of Tina, she wore a cheerleading outfit and I was slightly apprehensive. A cheerleader had pushed me over on my first day. I gulped and she said

"What'd I do?"

"Nothing, I was just saying how much you loved to dance." Mike said and she grinned

"Oh yeah I love dancing!" she turned to me and yelped "Ah! Who's that?" I recognised the vacant look in her bright blue eyes and knew she wasn't the brightest spark

"I'm Emily, just moved here from England." I explained she gasped

"Are you related to the Queen? I've always wanted a corgi!" she clapped her hands and I chortled

"No, sorry most people have never actually met the Queen." Her face dropped

"Awh, I was hoping you'd teach me how to make a cream tea…" I giggled

"I would be honoured." She grinned, lighting up her face, out of the corner of my eye I saw another girl sit down.

"Who's the new kid?" she asked gruffly I turned and was instantly captivated, she had flowing black hair and deep brown eyes, I recognised her as being Latina and her lips pursed as she waited for a response.

"Santana, this is Emily." Kurt said when he saw I wasn't going to reply anytime soon I shook my head to clear it, why the hell was I staring at her? She was _girl_! I couldn't look at her that way.

"Yeah! She's going to teach me to make a cream tea Sanny!" Brittany cheered, Santana gave me a WTF look and I sighed

"I'm from England." Her face lit up and the left side of her lips turned up in a smug smile

"So, England eh?" she mirrored what Puck had said yesterday "Bob's your uncle, Queens your aunt. What's the time Mrs Cameron?" she referred to the Prime minister, she opened her mouth to start another flurry of insults and my trance was broken and I raised my hand to stop her

"Okay guppy imma stop you right there." She looked shocked "Before you open your botoxed lips again and display how clearly stupid you are, no I am in no way related to the Queen nor the Prime minister, I do not drink tea every day, I do not constantly carry an umbrella in case it rains and I most definitely do not speak as if I have something stuck up my ass." I flicked my head to the side for emphasis and pursed my lips mirroring Santana's actions "I am sick and tired of all the stereotypes I mean Jesus, do you people actually know what happens in England?" I gestured to the whole table and they dropped their eyes "Didn't think so, It's almost identical to America, it just rains more often." I flipped my hair over my shoulder and Tina smiled at me

"So England, that's your new name now." Santana finally spoke and she leant forward to intimidate me but all it did was give me a stronger whiff of her perfume and a better look at her mesmerising eyes. "I have never met someone who so openly insulted me, I don't know whether or not to be offended or impressed. I'm leaning more towards impressed, I like your style, not afraid to stand up for yourself or as us Americans say' you got balls babe."

"Christ you must be good, you impressed Santana!" Puck said "I like you England, you're pretty awesome." I smiled and Santana grinned at me, suddenly Rachel slammed her hands down on the table

"Why are you guys ignoring Mr Schuester's assignment?" she questioned

"Wait, there's a purple piano in here?" Finn asked with his mouth full

"Wow, how did any of us miss that?" Mercedes said sarcastically and I chortled

"Hey, we have to do the number!" Rachel protested

"We have to survive lunch; it's not fair that Mr Schue put the piano in here. It's too much pressure." Artie said and I nodded, I had only briefly heard from Kurt the Glee club's assignment for the week

"I agree." Kurt said "That's like wearing a red dress to a bull fight."

"The point of the assignment was to find people who couldn't help but join, okay the more people we sing in front of the more chance we have of getting one okay? It's simple mathematics." Puck said something but I kind of zoned out as I looked over at Santana, she really was beautiful then Finn said they had to do the number because if they wanted to stand a chance at Nationals they had to believe in themselves. Rachel agreed and suddenly music started.

"Ohhh my God…." The whole table got up and started dancing Finn went to the drums and Brittany and Santana danced with the other members whilst Rachel jumped on top of a table and started them off, _Holy crap she's good!_ I thought Santana grabbed Brittany's hand and lead her over to another table where they jumped up and danced in front of the people eating there. Their bodies' moved in unison and my eyes were drawn to Santana's toned legs, my eyes travelled up her body and fixated on her chest. I suddenly realised what I was doing and raised my eyebrows in shock. _Why the hell was I looking at her boobs!? _I was disgusted at myself, I couldn't just check out someone I'd just met, never mind a girl! As much as the song was good I agreed with Kurt, this wasn't a good idea, the Glee clubbers couldn't see people's faces but I could. They looked unimpressed and some openly angry. I hung my head and sighed. Then someone else took over the singing and my head shot up, they were amazing! I looked round and my eyes came to rest upon a Latina, it was Santana, forget Rachel this girl was extraordinary! Students shook their heads in dismay and irritation but I didn't care to notice, my eyes were glued to Santana. The others started up again for the chorus and Brittany jumped onto the table where Santana was. They danced together and I realised instantly that they were best friends, the way they moved together and grinned at each other I could see the connection. Brittany sung the next verse and she was really good as well but nowhere near as amazing as Santana she danced on the table occupied by the other cheerleaders. She slid along the table provocatively. The chorus came in again and my foot tapped along to the rhythm. People started to mutter amongst themselves and their words were harsh and demeaning. I sneered as I overheard someone talking about the fact that she'd never seen a gay dance as bad as that, referring to Kurt. The song ended and a cheerleader who looked as if she had Downs ran up and threw a Slushie at Rachel, it didn't reach her face of stick to her clothes but the effect was still the same someone else threw some spaghetti and Puck said in dismay

"God no…" A nerdy looking guy with a large afro screamed

"Food Fight!" My eyes widened and I ducked under the table as the Glee club was bombarded with food, Kurt fell to the floor and I forgot about my safety, I would not see him get hurt again. I rushed forward and handed him a tray to protect himself. I stood alongside the glee club and let all manner of food be thrown at me, everyone screamed but I heard Santana the loudest

"Brittany!" I dove down alongside Kurt as Brittany danced in the raining food. The raining food slowly died out and I helped Kurt off the floor. I smiled at him and he smiled gratefully back

"Thank you."

"No problem." I replied and took his hand and lead him out to the bathroom to help him get cleaned up. It was time for next lesson which in most of our cases was a free period but Kurt and the others were called to an emergency Glee club meeting and I sighed as they walked off together and I made my way to the library.

"Oh my God I have actually never heard anything so bad in all of my life!" Kurt gushed as he explained about the girl Sugar Motta who had tried out yesterday. I laughed as he explained the way she had tried to hit the high note but just sounded as if she had run a marathon.

"So anyone can join?" I asked

"Yeah, you just need to have some musical talent unlike our friend Sugar and try out." He replied, I mulled this over, I had never really sung before but I did sing in the shower and Mike had said he was dancer and didn't sing much either and I loved to dance so… It was decided. Kurt sprayed hairspray and I coughed but laughed all the same, suddenly a boy with gelled black hair, red Capri pants and a bow tie walked up beside us, he ignored me and focused on Kurt.

"Hey."

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Kurt shut his locker and the boy leant against mine I rose my arms up and flapped them down to my sides when I realised I couldn't get my books out.

"Bad day?" he asked and Kurt turned away I shrugged and followed them

"Bad week more like, anyway shouldn't you be at Warbler practise putting the fine-tuning touches on a new Katy Perry showstopper."

"Okay for someone who loves clothes so much I can't believe you haven't noticed I'm not in my Warbler outfit." They stopped and I teetered on my tip-toes as I tried to stop myself from tumbling into this stranger

"Wait-wait…" Kurt looked him over and threw his arms around him with a joyful yelp "Wait you didn't do this for me did you?" Kurt looked suddenly worried "Because if you did this for me it's very romantic for one but it could lead to resentment which could lead to anger which could to horrible, horrible nasty breakup!" He gushed and it clicked, this was Kurt's boyfriend! I smiled and the bad thoughts about the guy being ignorant vanished from my head.

"H-he-hey! I did this for me because I can't stand to be apart from the person I love." He said and my smile stretched wider

"Well we'll just have to find a way to ease you into the New Directions now huh?" Kurt said still smiling

"I already have that figured out." Blaine said and they linked arms, Kurt then realised my existence and gushed

"Oh Blaine this is Emily, Emily this is my boyfriend Blaine." I reached out my hand

"Please to meet you Blaine." I said with a fake English accent

"Oh err hi…" Blaine took my hand but seemed shaken by my accent

"Just kidding, I'm not posh, not in the slightest, although I am English." I grinned and he laughed

"Very convincing, I never believed all those stereotypes anyway."

"Finally someone who understands me!" I said as we carried on down the corridor and out onto the courtyard.

I sat with Tina and Mike and grinned as Blaine started singing to Kurt, he was really good as well. It was amazing the amount of talent in one small school. The dance routine was well choreographed and Santana leapt up and joined in with the other Cheerios –I had found out that's what the cheerleading squad was called- I laughed as Blaine threw off his yellow sunglasses and Kurt caught them exuberantly. Everyone was so caught up in the song that they didn't notice the Cheerios sprinkling a substance over the purple piano in the centre of the courtyard, but I did I tried to speak up but couldn't be heard over the music. A girl with died pink hair sauntered down the steps and flicked a cigarette butt in the direction of the piano; I instantly knew what was going to happen. The embers from the cigarette made contact with the liquid and it went up in flames. The New Directions stood shocked and so did I, I never expected the sheer force of the flames. I dashed to get a bottle of water and started to extinguish the flames, Mercedes and Tina helped whilst everyone else still sat shocked.

We filtered out of the courtyard and back into the school building, the fire had been put out and the Cheerios disbanded in giggles. It had put a downer on the mood and I approached Kurt.

"Hey can I ask you a question?" He nodded "I want to join Glee club." He smiled

"Really? Oh Emily you'll love it!" he gushed and threw his arms around me I laughed nervously

"So what should I do? Like how do I try out?"

"Well we're having a meeting in last period, you have a free slot right?" I nodded and he continued "Blaine's joining today too so you wait outside and I'll introduce you to the club." Kurt smiled and I grinned back, happy but nervous at the same time. He grabbed my hand and pulled my towards the choir room. "You wait here." He said and patted my shoulder as he went in with Blaine and sat down as Mr Schue welcomed Blaine into the New Directions. The conversation turned serious as Santana confessed to setting the piano on fire alongside the other Cheerios, Mr Schue then asked her to leave until she could be loyal to the Glee club and only the Glee club. Santana begrudgingly left the choir room and Kurt raised his hand "Mr Schue, a moment of your time if you please?" He nodded and Kurt got up and went to the front, my heart was pounding "After the resounding failure of Sugar Motta's try-out I also have a recruit." He motioned for me to come in and I smiled nervously at the New Directions, Tina and Mike waved and I raised my hand in response. "This is Emily and she's interested in joining the Glee club." Kurt patted my arm to encourage me to speak

"Hi everyone, you all sort of know me but I want to introduce myself properly. I'm Emily Andrewson and after moving to America only a week ago, hated it. Everyone ignored me and when they did talk to me made fun of the fact that I'm from England. I know Glee club isn't the most popular club in the school but after seeing the way you all stand up for each other and how you're all so close I would love to be a part of that."

"So what will you be singing today Emily?" Mr Schue asked and I replied sheepishly

"Adele's Someone Like You." Rachel smiled rather evilly, I had learned she didn't like competition within the club and thought I was going to wing it, she was sadly mistaken.

"Wow, well whenever you're ready." Mr Schuester said and I whispered loud enough for only me to hear

"I was born ready…" I took a deep breath "Hit it." The music wrapped around me and I was instantly at ease

"_I heard that you're settled down _

_You found a girl and you're married now_

_I heard that your dreams came true_

_Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you__  
_

Old friend, why are you so shy?

Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light_  
__I hate to turn up out of the blue, uninvited_

_But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it_

_I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded_

_That for me, it isn't over__  
__Never mind, I'll find someone like you_

_I wish nothing but the best for you, too_

_I looked at Kurt and he smiled encouragingly, I smiled back as I took in a breath for the rest of the chorus._

Don't forget me, I begged,

I remember you said

Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead

Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead

___Nothing compares; no worries or cares_

_Regrets and mistakes, they're memories made_

_Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?__  
_Never mind, I'll find someone like you

I wish nothing but the best for you

Don't forget me, I begged, I remember you said

Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead_  
_Never mind, I'll find someone like you

I wish nothing but the best for you, too

Don't forget me, I begged, I remember you said

Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead

Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead''

Kurt stood up and clapped with a ridiculous grin on his face, then to my surprise so did the rest of the Glee club. I laughed and jumped up and down like a little girl. I had just gotten a standing ovation, on the first time I had sung in public! I grinned like a maniac and Mr. Schue came over and clapped, he rested his hand on my shoulder and I turned to look into his happy eyes. "Wow, Emily, just Wow! I haven't heard a voice like that in a long time! Welcome to the New Directions!" Kurt and Blaine cheered and I bowed with a laugh, maybe America wasn't going to be so bad after all. Kurt motioned for me to sit next to him and I obliged, I noticed Rachel's face was contorted in anger, maybe I had proved her wrong a bit too hard. I plopped myself down on the chair and sitting amongst the Glee club I finally felt like a belonged. "Rachel you had an announcement." Mr. Schuester motioned to Rachel and her expression was replaced by one of joy as the attention was brought back to her.

"Yeah, after pushing the envelope last year I strongly believe we should secure the rights to a less, shall we say controversial show for our school musical? Wait for it…" she paused for dramatic effect and I rolled my eyes "West Side Story!"

"Is that the one with the cats?" Brittany asked quietly, I noticed she didn't look as cheerful as usual, probably due to the fact Santana had been kicked out of the Glee club. Strangely my stomach dropped and a sigh escaped my lips.

"It also has a lead role which showcases my talents perfectly, Maria."

"Which there will be open auditions right?" Mercedes interrupted "Because Mercedes is feeling very pretty this year." She smiled and I chortled

"Kurt you had something else right?"

"Yes." Kurt leapt up and I jumped in surprise "Kurt Hummel is venturing into McKinley High's political shark infested waters. I'm running for Senior Class President. I thank you in advance for your votes." I clapped along with the others

"Okay…So much excitement now let's rehearse."

"Look at what they did to us Mr. Schue, just like these purple pianos they ripped our guts out, threw crap all over us and burned us up." Tina said

"Yeah, they hit us pretty hard, but…" He walked over to the medium shade purple piano and played a few notes "These pianos are still making music and so are we."

"Mr. Schue, as always we are on exactly the same page." Rachel got up and I felt as if I wanted to hurl she started singing you can't stop the beat from Hairspray. We then began to rehearse the new routine for it and by the next day we were ready to perform it. We danced about the stage in purple costumes with the pianos. Mine was a pair of purple skinny jeans, matching purple tank top and a darker shade of purple hoodie. Mike and Brittany had a dance break and they really were amazing, Rachel and Mercedes sung the solos and I along with the rest of the Glee club sung the backing vocals, it was the most fun I'd ever had and once we finished we all laughed and tried to catch our breath. _  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two.

I wandered down the corridor and found Mercedes and Tina, it was the Monday after I had joined the ranks of new directions and I had gotten pretty much all of the glee clubs numbers and we were all pretty much friends. I wasn't really close like they were with each other but I was getting there. We walked into the room and Mr Schue clapped his hands and told us to sit "Alright, New Directions! Big news. As you all know, Vocal Adrenaline came in second last year at nationals."

Finn butted in

"The only good thing to come out of that lost weekend." Rachel hit Finn lightly on the arm and I giggled as he hastily added "Besides us getting back together."

"Well, the boosters at Carmel don't donate tens of thousands of dollars every year to come in second, so they fired Dustin Goolsby." I was slightly lost but still paid attention then Artie chimed in

"So handsome."

Mr Schue shook his head and carried on "And they're having trouble finding a new coach. It seems that no-one wants to take on that pressure cooker."

"That means they're vulnerable!" Tina exclaimed

"Yes, and if we work hard enough, we can beat them. Which is why I realise that, umm, I can't direct the musical this year."

I was shocked but not as shocked as Rachel she practically shrieked "No, Mr Schue, you can't cancel the musical. My New York dreams depend on it."

"I'm not cancelling it." he reassured her "I'm just not directing it. My sole focus has to be in here. Nationals, Nationals, Nationals! And it's not just me that's gonna have to focus harder this year. I've been too easy on you, so every day after choir practice I am instituting a mandatory Booty Camp!" he turned round and wrote it on the white board "So that we can work on our dancing. Now, it's not for all of you. Just the people that I think need help. Like -" He was cut off by Finn

"Finn." He said and I laughed I had heard the story about how he had broken Rachel's nose with his dancing. Mr Schue laughed "How did you know? And Puckerman, Hummel-"

"I must protest." Kurt said and I chortled as Mike replied

"You kinda have one move, Kurt. It's like this sashay," he demonstrated "and its super distracting."

"Jones."

"What? Hell to the nizzy - no." Mercedes protested

"You told me once that you were Beyoncé. You don't think she spends extra time in the dance studio? Mike Chang has offered to be my assistant and we start tomorrow and yes, Puckerman it is mandatory." Me Schue explained

"Mr Schuester, would you mind if I dropped by for a little bit? I really need to catch up with you guys."

"Yeah would you mind if I did too?" I asked and Mike said

"Sure but I've seen some of your moves Em you really don't need to."

"Yeah but I really wanna get with you guys, I mean I only joined a week ago, I need to catch up." I grinned and Mike smiled back. Then it was back to Rachel as she chimed in

"Okay, Mr Schue, I'm glad that you're so concerned with our special-needs members, but what about me? Okay, who is gonna direct the musical?"

"Ladies and gentleman, your co-musical directors. Miss Pillsbury and Coach!" he said and a ginger woman who looked like a bush baby walked in alongside a woman who was about twice the size of me with curly brown hair "Now, Miss Pillsbury did such a good job helping me out with Rocky Horror last year that I knew she could handle the job."

The other woman spoke up "And I'm here to keep the football guys in line and I've also talked them into playing the Jets."

"Mr Schue, with all due respect to Miss Pillsbury and Coach Beiste, this is crazy - they have absolutely zero experience in directing a musical!" Rachel protested

"Not true: in college I was in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. I played the forum." we all looked slightly confused at what Coach Beiste said but Mr Schue just carried on

"The teachers at this school are already overworked and unfortunately a lot of them agree with Sue that the arts are a waste of time. Besides, they are gonna have some help. I have decided to include a student director this year."

"Mr Schue, I'm honoured, but Barbra was forty when she directed herself in Yentl so it's just, it's too soon." I mimed strangling Rachel as Brittany said to her

"I hate you."

"I was actually hoping that Artie would take the job." I snorted as Rachel's face crumpled and Mercedes playfully punched my shoulder, but she was also sniggering

"Me? I've developed my whole persona around conflict avoidance."

"Come on, Artie. You've made short films. Directing is your dream. You can do it." Tina encouraged and everyone nodded in agreement.

"I'm in."

"Alright. That's what I like to hear, buddy!" Mr Schue grinned and Finn said

"So what's this whole play about?" Rachel shot up and said

"Ah I'm glad you asked, it all started out..." the whole club groaned in unison as Rachel blabbed on and on about the ins and outs of the play.

I walked along the corridor beside Blaine and Kurt, I had become closest to the less popular members of the Glee club but I didn't mind, I still loved them all more than I ever thought I could. Brittany and I got on as well, but I was more focused on Santana, we hadn't spoken much since we had met in the cafeteria but I was strangely drawn to her. I put it down to the fact that I wanted to be friends with someone who was popular. I had learned about how Blaine had gone to a different school and after Kurt was horrifically bullied moved their too but he couldn't stand being apart from the Glee club and so transferred back. The relationship had however stayed strong but Blaine wanted to spend more time with Kurt so transferred to McKinley. I had also learned about Quinn's pregnancy with Puck being the father and now the woman who had adopted their baby was back as a teacher for a new Glee club, featuring the not so talented Sugar Motta and also the fact that Shelby was Rachel's mom. My second week and everything was already confusing. We made our way to the choir room for Booty Camp as Kurt and Blaine were both required to go and I had volunteered myself to join in. "Are you looking forward to Booty Camp?" I asked and Blaine nodded appreciatively whilst Kurt shook his head

"I don't see why I should go! I'm a good dancer right Blaine?" Kurt asked Blaine and I snorted as Blaine went pale

"Well- you kind of… You really do only have one move but…" Blaine didn't know what to say and I laughed and Kurt slapped his arm

"Thanks a lot Blaine." We reached the rehearsal room and walked inside. Mike clapped my back as I walked past, I blushed and smiled nervously. Kurt and Blaine dropped their bags onto the floor and I did the same, I then started stretching, just some simple exercises. Mr Schuester smiled as he walked in and told the others to stretch

"Listen, Mr Schue. I am all for participating, but Shane says I'm more of a 'park and bark,' and I tend to agree." Mercedes said as she sat down and Finn looked confused

"A what and what?"

"Park and Bark. I stand center-stage singing the notes no-one else can while all of you guys dance around me." Mercedes folded her arms over her chest

"Booty Camp is about all of you dancing, Mercedes. In unison. I mean, look at Vocal Adrenaline. When they're in sync - one big, terrifying machine - they're unstoppable. Mike, do you're thing. Let's go." Mr Schuester replied

"The jazz square, the grapevine, the step-touch, the kick-ball-change, and pivot. We perfect these basics, we'll win Nationals. Grapevine to the right: 5, 6, 7, 8." Mike introduced the moves and I knew all of them the music started and I danced alongside the others. I turned and found the that they were finding it a bit more difficult.

"Keep it going!" Mr Schue encouraged

"I. Am. In. Hell!" Puck chanted along to the beat and I chortled

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" I jeered and he frowned

"I'm going to put my light under a bushel, if only to shine brighter for the auditions tomorrow." I overheard Kurt talking with Blaine

"I'm still trying to decide between 'Maria' and 'Something's Coming.'" Blaine had spoken to me earlier about auditioning for Tony and I grimaced as Kurt replied

"Those are Tony's songs. Are you auditioning for Tony too?"

"Would that be weird?"

"No, no, not at all. You'd be a great Tony. You'd be the perfect Tony, actually, in some respects." Kurt said and I grinned at them

"Looking good Blaine!"

"Finn, you look like you're stepping on bees. Come on, Mercedes, blend!" Mike shouted

"Well, except, I'm a junior. Tony is the lead, which means that a senior should probably play that part."

"Yeah, that is kind of how it works, huh?" I shook my head at Kurt's inability to cloak what he was trying to say

"I mean, I'd be fine with Bernardo or Officer Krupke as long as it was opposite your Tony." Kurt began to use Jazz hands and I was about to shout at him when Mr Schue beat me to it

"Kurt, jazz hands!"

"Fine!" The rest of the rehearsal went well with us going through some more basic stuff and everyone had sweat beads running down their foreheads by the end. They all cheered as we dismissed them and I stayed behind with Mike to clear up

"You were amazing!" I said as I picked up the stereo

"Heh thanks, so were you. You're amazing Emily." I blushed

"Thanks, where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Free time." He answered as he picked up his hoodie

"Really, did you have classes as well?" I saw his shoulders tense

"No." he said stiffly "My parents don't approve of my dancing."

"Oh God Mike, I'm sorry." I placed my hand on his shoulder and he sighed

"Don't worry about it, you didn't know." I grabbed my hoodie and turned off the lights. We walked out of the side door together in silence and once in the car park he gave me a quick hug and said "Thanks for coming today, you were great." He let go and I called a goodbye to his disappearing form as he turned a corner.

I lay on my bed and sighed, my thoughts were consumed by Santana. I didn't know why, I thought of a few reasons, I wanted to get her to stop calling me England, I wanted to be friends with someone popular, or just the fact that I had talked to her the least of all the Glee club members, even if she had been kicked out…. I turned over and checked my phone._ One New Message_. I picked it up and saw it was from Finn.

'Hey, thanks for helping me in Booty Camp today, you really helped me get through that move.' I smiled and typed a quick response

'**No problem, wuu2?**' I put it back on my night stand and waited for a reply, he was quick

'With Kurt shopping for curtains' Another one quickly came through 'Sorry Kurt says that shud be drapes, u?'

'**Thinking'**

'About what?' Could I tell him? I had only really just met him but I felt connected, I started to type a reply explaining what I felt about Santana but I deleted it and instead wrote

'**Homework'**

'Ah right, I'll leave you to it.' I chucked my phone down onto the bed and sighed again. What the hell was wrong with me?

It was Booty Camp again and Finn was struggling with yet another move but he was getting there and with some help from Mike and Mr Schuester he got it. I cheered along with the rest of the Glee club and gave him a high five; suddenly a girl in a summer dress with blonde hair came in. She looked familiar but I couldn't place where from.

"Can I help you, Quinn?" Mr Schue asked confused and I realized, it was the girl who had gotten pregnant and then had turned into a bad-girl punk.

"I heard this was for people who need a little help with their dance moves and want to win Nationals." She replied

"That's right."

"So I'm a little rusty. And uh, would it be cool if I joined in?" She asked hesitantly

"Absolutely. Welcome back." Mr Schuester said with a smile and I grinned along with the rest of the Glee Club

"Get in here, girl. You've been missed." Mercedes said with a hug and then turned to me and said

"Quinn, this is Emily. Emily this is Quinn." I smiled, she was really pretty now she had reverted back to what I guessed was her old self

"Pleased to meet you." I said and she replied

"The pleasure's all mine." She smiled back and went over to talk to Puck; I couldn't quite hear what they were saying so once again focused on dancing. We went through more moves and by the end Quinn was up to date and everyone else was doing much better than when we had started. Things were looking up and I was loving every second of it.

I walked along the corridor and spotted Santana and Brittany walking towards me, I smiled at them and gave Britt a wave.

"Hey Emily!" she said cheerily

"Hi England." Santana said "Come on Britt, we're gonna be late for Cheerios practice."

"See ya Em." She said and walked off I sighed, Santana really was beautiful, what would it be like to fell those lips against mine? I stopped and my eyes widened _'What the hell? Why on earth would I think that?'_ I shook my head as if to clear it and carried on down the hall to Geometry. God I hated that blasted lesson. The whole time I couldn't stop thinking about Santana and the thoughts that had plagued my mind since I had met her. Why was I thinking such ridiculous things? I'm a girl; she's a girl, what the hell is wrong with me? I can't think things like that, I'm not gay, I had had a boyfriend back in England_. 'Yes but had it really felt as good as you thought it would?' _a voice niggled in the back of my mind. _'No….' _I admitted to myself and a single tear slid down my cheek. I made no sound, if I did everyone would ask what was wrong, instead a buried my face in my text book and thanked God I had put on waterproof eye makeup this morning, I let the tears fall down my face and sniffled slightly. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jolted at the sudden touch.

"Are you okay?" Tina asked

"Yeah, just got a cold." I lied and fake sneezed for good measure. I got a tissue out of my pocket and secretly dried my eyes. When had life gotten so confusing?

I walked out of Geometry and after walking down the hall for a minute found myself standing next to Santana at her locker.

"Hey." I said nervously and she turned with her brows furrowed

"Hi, why are you talking to me?" she asked

"I just…"I trailed off not entirely sure why myself "I haven't really talked to you since the first day we met so I thought I would ask how you were doing."

"Oh right, well I'm good. I hear you joined the Glee club, didn't know you sung England. What you audition with God Save The Queen?" she sneered and I sighed

"No Botox I didn't, I auditioned with Someone Like you, I'm sure you're familiar with it and apparently I'm really good because by the end of it Rachel was wining like a lost puppy." Santana laughed and said

"You're alright England, in fact you're pretty cool." I blushed "I wish I could have seen Rachel's face."

"Yeah I wish you'd seen my audition too." I said and widened my eyes when I realized I'd said it out loud instead of in my head "You know, so you could have seen the full effect I had on Rachel."

"Oh right." Then I blurted

"I wish you'd come back to Glee club." She furrowed her brows in confusion "I saw you perform in the cafeteria, you were amazing Santana! I mean really amazing. You can sing, you can dance, so why'd you quit?"

"I didn't, Mr Schue kicked me out." She said closing her locker; she started to walk away so I followed her

"So? He said you could come back if you were allied with Glee Club, so why not?" I asked

"Have you even met Coach Sue?" she turned on me shaking her head slightly "She's freakin terrifying!" She used her hands a lot when she talked, I noticed "But don't tell anyone I told you I'm scared of her." She added

"You're secret's safe with me." I said and put my hand up in surrender

"Good." Santana pursed her lips "What do you expect me to do?" she sighed

"There's this new thing, it's called not telling people things." She looked at me in confusion "Glee club is your business, not Sue's. If you want to rejoin Glee club, just don't tell her." I smiled and walked off, leaving Santana to mull over what I'd said I then hastily called over my shoulder "And stop calling me England!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three.

It was time again for another Booty Camp session. We were about to start dancing when Santana walked through the stage door to the right. My heart pounded and I grinned.

"Santana what are you doing here?" Mr Schuester asked

"With the help of some advice from a good friend," she looked at me and smiled "I've decided to rejoin the Glee club, with full allegiance."

"Welcome back Santana." Mr Schue said and we all cheered Mike then said to me

"Hey, could you help Santana catch up?"

"Yeah, sure." I hastily agreed and walked over to where she stood "I see you took my advice."

"That's a rare occurrence from me Emily you should be happy." She used my real name

"Two pieces of advice taken, I'm impressed." We grinned and I added "Let me catch you up."

"What about Mike?"

"He asked me to teach you." I smiled smugly

"That good eh? Now I'm the one who's impressed." I chortled and helped her catch up with the steps; in now time she was as good as the others, even better than some of them. There was one move she was struggling with so I crouched down in front of her and pulled her leg towards me,

"I'll guide your legs; you know the arms so you should be okay." I guided her tanned leg and helped her a little more until she got the move

"Thanks Em." She said then suddenly Mr Schue announced

"Your late." And Mercedes walked in

"I know. I overslept." I furrowed my brows in confusion

"It's 4:30 in the afternoon." Quinn said

"My alarm clock went off 30 minutes late this morning, kind of shifted my whole schedule. Anyway, what's Santana doing here?"

"I've re-sworn my allegiance to the Glee Club, without telling Coach Sue." She spoke up

"Mercedes, I'll catch you up. Five, six, seven. Five, six…" They began to dance but when the turned Mercedes grunted and rushed over to the trash can

"Mercedes, you okay?" Mr Schue asked worried

"My stomach hurts. I think I'm gonna be sick." She replied

"Why are you babying her? I mean, she can't do three steps without puking 'cause she ate at Quizno's before she showed up in this joint." I thought that was slightly mean but Mercedes replied

"Mr. Schue, you have us scheduled to the second right now. With school, Glee Club and Booty Camp, when else am I supposed to eat?"

"When the rest of us do?" That was even meaner and I was about to say something but Mercedes lashed back

"Oh, like you eat!"

"It's not about eating. It's about attitude. Sectionals are coming up, and if we don't give it our all…"

"I am doing my best." Mercedes protested

"No, you're not. It's not about doing your best anymore. It's about doing better." Mr Schue said and we all pulled faces of the same emotion, surprise and confusion, M Schuester never spoke like that. He really was serious about us winning sectionals, so much so he was being mean.

I walked down the hall slightly behind Kurt and Rachel, I thought about catching up with them but thought I might seem annoying, I could only hear snippets of their conversation but from what I heard I gathered they were talking about the election. Brittany and Santana came round the corner and walked up to Kurt and Rachel so I decided to catch up anyway.

"Nice blouse, Hummel. Really brings out the color of your pink eye." Santana said and I tried hard not to giggle

"So, I assume I can rely on your vote, Rachel, and you Emily?" Brittany asked; Rachel and I shook our heads Rachel replied snidely

"I'm sorry; Brittany, but I've already pledged my fidelity to Kurt."

"Sorry Britt." I smiled apologetically

"Oh, so you're cool with flushing McKinley High's future down the magical poop-stealing water chair?" I did however chortle at that

"Did you know that in six years at this school, we've only exclusively had male student council presidents? And yeah, Kurt looks like Jimmy Fallon's butch daughter, but a vote for him would only empower yet another frank and beans." Santana explained and I nodded approvingly

"Yes. Where has that patriarchy gotten us? Double-digit inflation, economic free fall, oil spills, war in Afghanistan." Brittany seemed to be taking this very seriously

"I tweeted about Britt's flash mob pep rally in the gym, 2:48 and we're all showing up to support her with girl power." Santana smirked

"Yes, boys have made one helluva mess in this school, and there's only one way to clean it up." Suddenly Brittany started singing Run the World and I whispered to Kurt

"Does this happen often here?" he nodded but looked more shocked with Brittany rather than the fact she was singing. Britt picked up some Cheerios and danced her way to the gym where she finished the song and the pep rally. During the song Santana had taken over singing a little whilst her and other girls from the audience joined in the dancing, I was one of them; it was amazing and such a laugh. The song finished and a girl wound through the other assembled girls and handed Brittany a microphone.

"Hi. I'm Brittany S. Pierce, and I'm your next senior class president." She panted and everyone cheered.

I waited in the wings whilst Mike performed Cool for the part of Riff, his dancing was amazing and although I had never heard him singing in Glee club he was pretty amazing at that too. Someone suddenly came up behind me and said

"Hey." I whipped round and found Santana smiling

"God, you scared the crap outta me!" I exclaimed and she smiled

"Sorry, are you auditioning?"

"Yeah for Consuelo, you?" I asked

"Anita."

"Oh my God you're perfect for her!" I encouraged and she replied

"You're perfect for Consuelo too." I smiled

"Thanks, I've never auditioned for anything like this before." I admitted

"Really? Awh you'll be fine, and I'll be waiting in the wings to cheer you on." She smiled and I grinned

"So are we like friends now, because in my travels around McKinley High I heard you're a bit of a bitch, so why are you being nice to me?" I asked, honestly curious

"You gave me some amazing advice, which lead to me being back with Glee club and anyway you remind me of myself, soft inside but not afraid to cut a bitch." She replied off handedly and I couldn't help but laugh then Mike walked off and whispered

"Good luck." I smiled nervously and Santana gave me a quick hug

"You'll be fine" then I walked out on stage.

"Hi, you're Emily Andrewson right?" Miss Pillsbury asked and I nodded

"Y-yes and I will be auditioning for the role of Consuelo." I replied nervously

"Great, what will you be singing?" Coach Beiste asked

"Glitter in the Air by Pink." I replied and they each made approving and also slightly confused faces

"I know it's customary to perform a song from the actual musical, or from another musical but I have always loved this song and it really gets me through so I wanted to sing it today."

"Great, it's a change but not an unneeded one, whenever you're ready." Artie said professionally so I nodded and walked over to the piano. I had been practicing for hours over the past week at home and in my free periods to get the piano part and the singing perfect. I let out a deep breath and then sucked in another and started to play the familiar notes.

'_Have you ever fed a lover with just your hands?  
Closed your eyes and trusted, just trusted?  
Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air?  
Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, "I just don't care"?_

It's only half past the point of no return  
The tip of the iceberg  
The sun before the burn  
The thunder before the lightning  
The breath before the phrase  
Have you ever felt this way?

_Have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone?  
Your whole life waiting on the ring to prove you're not alone  
Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?  
Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside?_

_It's only half past the point of oblivion  
The hourglass on the table  
The walk before the run  
The breath before the kiss  
And the fear before the flames  
Have you ever felt this way?_

La La La La La La La La

There you are, sitting in the garden  
Clutching my coffee,  
Calling me sugar  
You called me sugar

Have you ever wished for an endless night?  
Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight?  
Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight?  
Tonight' 

I played the piano out as I held the last note. Then I focused again, out of the musical trance and heard the applause I looked up, shocked to find Coach Beiste and Emma standing and applauding, Coach Beiste was also crying! I stood up and bowed with a slight laugh.

"Amazing, amazing! It was so refreshing to get some raw music and power! I'm impressed!" Artie cheered

"That was beautiful, really beautiful." Coach sniffed and I replied hastily

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

"You're welcome but really I think we should be thanking you." Artie said and Miss Pillsbury clapped, I started to walk off stage but instead jogged and practically jumped on Santana

"I did it! I did it!" I squealed and she laughed

"You certainly did, that was amazing!"

"You really think so?" I asked and pulled back, but still had my arms on her shoulders

"I know so, now get off me so I can go kick some ass." She joked and I grinned as I let go of her after giving one last squeeze and then watched as she really did kick ass on her song. If she didn't get Anita it would be a crime against nature.

I lay on my bed reading The Hunger Games for about the fiftieth time and my phone buzzed; _One New Message_. I unlocked my phone, it was from Santana.

'Cast list goes up tomorrow, u nervous?' I typed a reply

'Terrified u?'

'No I know I nailed it.' I laughed, she was just so to the point and I loved that about her.

'You certainly did!'

'Thanks, you did too btw did u understand the Chemistry homework?'

'Yeah, why?'

'Could I maybe come over for you to run through it with me?' I replied

'Yeah sure, 6:40 OK with u?'

'Awesome thanks, u live a few streets over from Quinn right?'

'Yeah, Chester street.'

'Oh my abuela lives on that street! See u soon x' I recognised the Spanish for grandma and sighed as I put the phone down. Not a sad sigh that had been escaping my lips recently but a content one. I smiled to myself then looked around the room, it was a pigsty

"Crap."

I rushed around my room cleaning it up, straightening my bed sheet, realigning my posters so they were even and cleaning up my desk. It took way longer than I thought it would because my room was a hell of a lot bigger than the one I'd had in England. To be honest my whole house was bigger. It was one of the better things about the USA than sunny England. The weather was also much better, my mum was already sun burnt whereas I was working up a fabulous tan-if I do say so myself. I then pounded down the stairs and into the open plan downstairs. The walls were a clean white with pictures up of all our family trips and other paintings, when I looked at it all it was very English, as a joke we had put up a keep calm and carry on poster in the kitchen, which was where I was headed. I opened the large fridge/freezer with an ice machine- which I found far more entertaining than I should for my age- and grabbed a can of coke. I checked the clock 5:45. I still had a while so I made some snacks, just crisps and some nuts. I sighed and looked at my handiwork of the snacks laid out on the kitchen island, another awesome new feature. I walked back into the living room through a square arch that connected the rooms and crashed onto the sofa. I turned on the large TV and watched some MTV. After my dad was offered the job that made us move to America we had gotten a huge sum of cash and I mean huge, almost 1 million pounds which exchanged into even more American dollars! So he treated us to this massive house and kept some aside for my college fund. Surprisingly he kept his crappy old ford mustang but he did buy me a classic Mini for when I passed my driving test, something I was very pleased about, even though it looked really rather odd next to all the flashy American cars. Suddenly Bolt my Siberian husky barked and put his paws up on my lap.

"Hey boy, how are you?" I ruffled his ears and he yipped playfully "Sorry boy I can't play now." He whined and I smiled sadly at him "Later 'kay?" he padded off and I checked my watch, I had only killed twenty minutes so I decided to go back up to my room and do some other homework. I raced up the stairs, I always had run up stairs at home I have no idea why. I admired my room, even though we had only been in America for three weeks I had still made a great start on my room, I had painted the walls white and was working on a wall art above my bed which had a wold howling and stars, fluid strokes and musical notes flowing from its mouth. I smiled at my work; I still needed to paint the wolf head I was going to paint it like a night sky with purples and blues. I plonked myself down on the side of my bed, the purple starred covers crinkling and making a rustling sound. My phone buzzed and I leant over, stretching my arm to its limit to try and reach without getting up. I managed to grab it and unlocked the screen, _One New Message._ I checked and it was from Santana

'Hey you mind if I come over a bit earlier? Like 6:10?'

'Yeah sure, that's fine'

'Great thnx Em'

'No prblm'

I sighed; there went my plans for homework out the window. I decided to put on my apron and after checking the clock to find it was 5:50, began painting my mural. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and rolled up my jumper sleeves. I worked on some of the fluid patterns coming from its mouth and then changed paint colour to a deep blue and painted the wolf head, the brush stroked over the smooth wall and instantly calmed me, I had always loved painting and I now realized how calming and de-stressing it was. I cursed as I went over the line of the wolf's ruffled neck fur and quickly grabbed a thinner brush and dipped it in the black paint to repaint the mistake. I stood back and admired it, the purples and blues were blending perfectly for the pelt and now I only had the muzzle to do. I was about to lean forward and begin painting when the doorbell rang throughout the house causing Bolt to bark loudly and me to splash paint on my bed covers.

"Crap." I brushed my fringe aside and rubbed my hands on my apron; I rushed downstairs and wiped my hands again to stop any paint getting on the door handle. I took in a deep breath and opened the door with a smile. Santana smiled back but then fully took in my appearance furrowed her brows

"Oh God sorry did I come at the wrong time?" I looked down at myself, paint had spattered everywhere and my hair was scruffy from the quick ponytail I had dragged it into

"Oh no not at all! I was painting my room whilst I waited for you to come round, the time got away from me." I quickly explained slightly surprised at her worriedness

"Oh right, can I come in?"

"Oh of course, make yourself at home, I'm still trying to." She chuckled as I gestured inside and steeped aside so she could get past. She was still in her Cheerios uniform and my eyes grazed over her body and how short the skirt was. My eyes widened and I quickly tore my eyes away

"Wow, this place is great!" she exclaimed as she looked round

"Heh, I suppose thank you."

"No problem." Santana replied and dropped her bag beside the sofa, she sat down and I asked

"Would you like a drink?"

"That'd be great thanks." Her eyes still travelled around the room

"Coke okay?"

"Yeah." I went into the kitchen giving Bolt a stroke as I passed him, I grabbed the cans from the fridge and dropped them when I heard a scream form the other room. I raced into the sitting room to find Bolt jumping up and Santana and her cowering in the corner of the couch. He got up on the cushions and I raced forward as she yelped again.

"Down, Bolt now!" I shouted at him but he wasn't listening so I rushed forward and reached my arms around his large body. I hauled him up off of the still cowering Santana and took him into the kitchen, slightly puffing with the effort. I picked the Cokes off of the floor and ushered him out the back door. He gazed up at me longingly but I ignored him and locked it the door anyway. I placed the cans on the table and Santana hesitantly took her hands from her face.

"I-is it g-gone?" she stuttered and I sat down next to her

"Yeah, I'm so sorry he's not used to new people." I said and gently put my arm on her shoulder to comfort her.

"It's okay; I'm just really scared of dogs, well big dogs." She sighed and I raised my lips in a one-sided smile

"Do you wanna keep this between us?" I asked "Not like I really have that many friends to tell." She chuckled and said

"Yeah, if you don't mind, not even Britt knows about that."

"No problem," I passed her the Coke and she nodded in thanks "So what you been up to?"

"Cheerios practice." She replied

"Yeah I noticed; does Coach Sue ever let you take that thing off?" I gestured to her uniform

"Not really." We made some more small talk and then I suggested going up stairs to go over the Chemistry, Santana nodded and I showed her up the stairs, I noticed her eyes gazing over the photos on the stairway, she stopped at one of me and my old group of friends. "Are these your friends back in England?"

"Yeah, I miss them so much." I sighed

"How long are you in America for?" she asked

"Until I graduate college, then I still won't have the money to move back; and anyway they'll have all forgotten me by then anyway." Tears sprung to my eyes and I sniffed she smiled sadly at me and I gave a slight smile back. We continued up the stairs and into my room

"Whoa…" she breathed and I followed her eyes to the wolf mural I had been painting earlier "Did you do this?"

"Yeah I did." I smiled proudly and she turned, eyes gleaming

"It's amazing."

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do! It looks like a professional did this!" Santana exclaimed and I grinned

"Thanks, it means a lot coming from you." Her brows furrowed

"What do you mean?"

"Well I've seen the way you look at people, or the way you insult them and you've never really done that to me. Only once in the cafeteria so why am I an exception?"

"I-I don't know…" she said "I think you remind me of me, or rather the person I like to believe I am on the inside. I walk around so angry with the world when really I think inside I'm a nice person and good like you," she gestured to me "I think maybe if I be nice to you you'll return the favor. I've already made an impression with everyone else at school and let's just say it's not the most dazzling report but with you I get a second chance, a chance to be a good person, to be who I really want to be without all the insults."

"Wow, that's…amazing Santana." I replied "For the record, you are a good person and I'm not meaning to pry but I can see there's something going on in your life, something you don't want people to know about that makes you angry, makes you defensive and causes the insults. I don't know what it is but I can feel there's something more going on here." Her eyes widened and her mouth twitched "I've been through a lot of shit in my life, if you want to talk to me about it-"

"No!" she yelled "There's nothing going on! I'm fine, I've always been this way and I always will! I'm not angry at the world, I'm angry at the people who inhabit this hell hole and I don't know why I didn't see it before…" she huffed and shook her head in disbelief "you're one of the worst. So happy, so nice so… perfect." My face crumpled "I should never have come here. It was my mistake and it was also yours." She stormed out of the room and I heard the door slam behind her as she made her exit.

I had asked Mr Schue if I could be excused from Booty Camp today because I really didn't want to see Santana, ever since her visit the other day I had tried to avoid the Latina. Now I was surer than anything something was going on with her but I didn't want to push the matter. I wanted to be her friend not some creepy stalker, so I was giving her space. I walked down the hall and into the choir room. I sat at the back and looked around the room, it was a quiet place, with the Glee club practicing in the auditorium and it was cold, it reminded me of the music room at my old school. When the Glee clubbers were actually in here it was nothing like it but now, cold, empty and silent it was exactly like the practice room over in England. I sighed and pulled out my phone. I tapped on the contacts and called my friend Chloe, it would cost loads but right now I didn't care. She picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Emily! How are you?" she asked excitedly

"I'm good, what about you?"

"Meh okay, so what's it like in America?" I sighed into the phone "What's wrong?"

"Just, it's difficult, new school, new people, new problems." I replied

"You do like it over there don't you?" Chloe said worriedly

"Yeah and guess what?" I couldn't contain my excitement

"What?"

"I joined a Glee club!"

"What the hell's a Glee club?" she asked and I could picture her face, eyebrows furrowed, mouth in a slight grimace and her nose scrunched up I laughed

"It's a singing club and I've made quite a few new friends." I explained

"R-really?"

"Yeah, but don't worry they'll never replace you." I smiled

"Heh, I wasn't worried about that." But I knew she had been, I could tell it from her voice "So what're they like?

"Well first there's Kurt, he's gay but unbelievably awesome with great fashion sense, Blaine his boyfriend who uses way too much gel. Mercedes who can be a bit of a diva but cool all the same, Tina and Mike, Mike's an amazing dancer, Finn who really isn't a dancer, Rachel who's kinda intense, Artie, Puck, Quinn, Brittany and Santana, Santana's really cool but there's something up with her. I just don't know what…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well she's really defensive and can cut you with her insults but then other times she's really nice and sweet, I think something's going on with her and she's trying to hide it, that's what makes her so defensive." I explained

"Sounds possible…" She trailed off and I could hear someone speaking in the background "Listen, I gotta go now but I'll try and talk later 'kay?"

"Okay." I sighed

"Laters." She hung up before I even had the chance to say goodbye.

I sat in the audience on my own, two rows behind Mike and Tina and three seats over from Santana and Brittany, I was going to skip the Mercedes**/**Rachel face of but Kurt had begged me to come claiming we were going to be talking about it for years to come. Mercedes was up first and she was truly amazing but Rachel also pulled out all the stops, you could see how much they both wanted the part and would do anything to get it. I sighed as they finished and clapped along with the others but my heart wasn't in it. I walked out of the auditorium first and slowly walked to my locker; I had put up photos of my friends back in England and a couple I had taken with Kurt, Tina and Mercedes. I checked my phone, blank, no messages. I ran a hand through my brown hair and my pinkie got caught on a knot so I got my brush out and gave my hair a quick go through. I checked my makeup in the mirror and after a small amount of deliberation decided it was okay. I closed the door louder than I meant to be no one seemed to notice. I sighed and walked down the corridor to the main doors, I walked out into the warm air. _'I don't think I'll ever get used to it being warm nearly all the time' _I thought to myself and made my way home.

Artie wheeled down the corridor and I noticed as he passed me the white sheet of paper in his lap, the cast list. I hurriedly followed him, my heart pounding in my chest. _'What if I didn't get the part? Or what if I did?'_ Thoughts raced through my head and he pinned it up. I let Mike go first, he cheered and hugged Tina tightly and I congratulated him, Santana was next and she smiled as she read she had gotten Anita. I stepped forward and above Officer Krupke was the name Consuelo…..Emily Andrewson "I did it… I did it!" I laughed and cheered as Tina gave me a hug and Blaine was next alongside Kurt who had gotten Tony and Officer Krupke, I had noticed Maria had been given to Rachel but I didn't care I had gotten the part! I turned and Santana was standing somewhat nervously next to me

"Well done, you deserved it." She said and I smiled

"Thank you, you're going to ace Anita."

"Thanks." She said and I gave her a hug, argument forgotten. Santana hugged back and we all laughed as we walked away, I noticed Mercedes walking into Miss Corcoran's classroom but thought nothing of it.

Mr Schue explained to us that he wanted us all to perform Fix You by Coldplay this week so we rehearsed and then got changed into the costumes he had assigned us; mine was a pair of white skinny jeans, white converse, white t-shirt with some faded flower patterns and a white cardigan. I stood right at the back in the middle, a tier higher than Finn and Mike. We sang the song well and I heard Mr Schuester sing for the first time ever, he was really good and I could see why everyone admired him so much. In the end we didn't laugh and cheer like we usually did we left in silence because it was a song that didn't need to be cheered just quietly respected, and we all liked it that way.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four.

As we sat in the choir room I noticed a sniffling sound and turned to find Tina crying "Are you okay?" I asked but before she could speak Santana butted in

"You know what Girl-Chang if you cry every time someone gets a hangnail it kinda starts to lose its affect."

"It's not a hangnail, Mercedes was one of Glee's original members, I feel naked in here without her." I placed a hand on her knee comfortingly as Puck chimed in

"Yeah well get used to it because without her singing voice we're gonna have to perform naked for the judges to vote for us at sectionals.

"No." Mr Schuester said "I will not let this setback crush our spirits, we have handled worse."

"Than losing one of our best singers." Mike protested

"Kinda hard not to blame you Mr Schue, I think you were too hard on her at Booty Camp." Quinn said vindictively

" I blame Artie, why couldn't you have just given Maria to Mercedes." Tina said

"Because, that would have damaged my integrity as an artist." He protested

"Enough!" I exclaimed fed up of all the bickering "Listen Mercedes is gone okay?" I stood up "I know I haven't been here long but I know we can get through this, we lost a great voice and it is a major loss but we have other great people in here with equally as great voices! So please stop playing the blame game, it was Mercedes choice to leave and all of this falls upon her shoulders, not ours."

"Sorry I'm late," Rachel said cheerily as she walked in the door "I was putting up posters for my-" She paused when she saw Kurt "For my campaign."

"Did ya air-brush out your jowls?" Kurt said snidely

"No!"

"Look stop it everybody, Emily's right. So we lost a singer, so they cancelled the musical-" Finn was suddenly cut off by Rachel

"Wait what? N-n-n-no you can't cancel my musical!" I sneered at her possessiveness

"Sue cut the funding." Mike said sadly

"The point is right now we shouldn't be turning on each other."

"I agree, I can only speak from my experience with the Warblers but no show choir is just one person, it's a team. When we lost a Warbler we would just replace them with another one." Blaine said

"Which is easy when you're waiting list has a waiting list. Dude I know you're a big deal at Dalton or whatever but we don't wear blazers here so have a seat, I'm trying to give a pep talk."

"Harsh much?" I said and Blaine replied to Finn

"Didn't you just say something about us not turning on each other?"

"You can't cancel my musical okay? I was thinking about changing my name to Maria!" Rachel said and I clenched my fists in frustration

"The musical is not cancelled, as for Mercedes yes it is a huge loss for us but we will deal with replacing her later, right now we need to focus on putting on this musical."

"How?" Tina asked

"We sell ads in the program; I figure we can get 10 maybe 20 bucks a piece for them."

"So we only have to sell about 200." Quinn said

"Well I think it's a brilliant idea and I volunteer myself to spearhead the charge, it'll give me an opportunity to bust out my banana republic madman collection." Kurt said to which I chortled and looked at Santana, she seemed deep in thought and so didn't notice my wandering gaze. I sighed my feelings were becoming more prominent and I now realized they were feelings of something more than friendship, the thought still unnerved me but not as much as they had when I began to think these things, I focused my attention back on the front even though it took some amount of will power to tear my gaze away.

"Alright let's split up into smaller groups and figure out who does gonna canvas which parts of the city." We started to gather our things "And guys no matter what Sue does or who leaves us, everyone in this group's dreams are gonna come true." I looked over at Santana who looked unsure

"Hey can I go with you and Britt to canvas the city?" I asked her, we were kind of friends again after what had happened at my house but this was the first real move I'd made

"Yeah I suppose, that okay with you Brittany?"

"Yeah, maybe afterwards you could help me make a cream tea?" I chortled

"I would love to."

"Ooh yay! Sanny will you help us?" Brittany asked ecstatic

"Yeah, if you want." She sighed and we walked out of the choir room together, Santana and Brittany's pinkies locked tightly and their shoulders brushing. Suddenly a thought crept into my mind and I stopped suddenly

"You okay Em?" Britt asked me

"Yeah I-I'm fine, you two go on ahead I'll catch up." They shrugged and walked away. _'Holy. Shit.'_ That's what Santana was hiding, how had I never noticed before? Yeah Santana and Brittany were close but I had never taken it as _that_ type of close. The looks, leaning head on shoulders, pinkies linked. They were secretly going out! Or at least I think they are. It did make sense. That's why Santana got so defensive all the time, why she always tore other people down because inside she was tearing herself down because she was _gay._ My breath hitched in my throat as another thought crept into my head one I had been trying to bury ever since I met Santana, ever since my green eyes had met her brown ones. I liked Santana, more than that I had a crush on her, and with that it also meant that_ I_ might be gay.

I walked down the hall, it was the day after Mr Schue had told us to search the city for people who wanted ad space but earlier he had said he had a helping hand so not to sell too many, I had been confused but gone along with it anyway. I found my locker and pulled out some books for the rest of the day. I closed the door and saw a football player smack a boy in a green shirt against the lockers, he crumpled to the floor similarly to the way Kurt had the day I had met him. "Are you okay?" I knelt down next to the boy and picked up his books, he looked at me uncertainly "Stupid question, of course you're not."

"No it's not that, it's just no one has helped me before." He spoke with a heavy Irish accent

"I can't see why." I smiled at him, and he smiled back, he had a cute smile with shiny blue eyes.

"Thank you, I'm Rory Flanagan." He stuck out his hand and after shaking it I pulled him up

"Emily Andrewson."

"It's nice to know someone from a little closer to home." He said and I smiled at his mention of England

"Yep, you move here recently?"

"Yeah, just last week, you?"

"Almost a month ago, are you here with your parents?" I asked and his smile dropped

"No, mommy and papa are back in Ireland with my brother, I'm here on foreign exchange."

"Awh I'm sorry." I said and rubbed his arm

"It's fine, you weren't to know." He smiled again and we walked down the corridor together before I came to my classroom.

"This is me, I'll see you later Rory." I waved as he walked away and I walked into History

I walked through the choir room door and waved to Santana and Brittany who were sitting together on the floor, very close. I was almost certain now. I wasn't going to tell anyone; that wasn't my style I was going to wait for them to come out when they wanted to. I sat down next to Kurt and said a quick hello. Mr Schue started to write on the board and I heard Britt whisper to Santana "He knows about my leprechaun." I looked at the board where Mr Schue had wrote

_**The Magic's **__**BACK!**_

"Okay everyone, some very exciting news. Due to the collective spirit of this club particularly the hard ads sales work of Kurt and the generosity of the entire Hummel-Hudson household, it's my pleasure to announce that we have raised the money to do West Side Story this year!" Mr Schuster exclaimed and we all cheered "Good job everyone, great job, thank you." He motioned to everyone "Blaine you actually had something you wanted to say right?"

"Yes I did." He replied

"Alright come on up." Mr Schue said and Finn looked at Blaine in confusion

"I just wanted to acknowledge that we've all had a really rough week, what with Mercedes leaving so I prepared a little something to go with what Mr Schue just said." He smiled "That the magic is still just here." I looked over at Finn again and he looked like he had steam coming out of his ears, he looked confused, angry and to be honest I didn't know why, Blaine was just trying to help. "This is to remind what Glee's all about really just having fun." The band started playing Last Friday Night and as Blaine began he pulled Brittany down next to him for the stranger in my bed line to which Santana pulled her back up un-amused. We all got up and danced whilst singing back up for him, all except Santana she sat at the back unimpressed and alone. We finished and clapped as Blaine stood at the front.

"You guys that song is amazing, I think we should do it for sectionals!" Rachel exclaimed and for once I actually agreed with her, Santana then butted in

"Soo no concerns about showcasing any other voices this year at the competition?" she got up and started to walk to the front, everyone's eyes followed her, mine especially closely

"Oh come on Santana you were featured last year at sectionals." Mr Schuester said and I thought to myself _'Wow, I wish I'd seen that…'_

"Yeah I know and we won, oh you know what I get it. Since Mercedes is gone it's going to be the Blaine and Rachel show, yay." Rachel looked very unimpressed "You all know it's true." Everyone looked down at the floor, or the walls, everywhere but at Santana, except me. When no one replied she added "Noted." And walked off

"Thank you Santana." Mr Schue sighed

I walked down the hall and waved to Rory as he looked kind of shocked I turned the corner and saw Santana at her locker I was about to go and say hi when I was surrounded by some Hockey players, the one who had slammed Kurt into the locker that first day was at the head of the group.

"Hey England." He said with a fake sweetness to his voice

"Err hi…" I was unsure what was going on

"Now it has come to my attention that you have been in Glee club for two weeks now and haven't had the proper initiation to it."

"What do you mean initiation?" I asked and he smiled evilly

"Why this of course." I looked down and saw the blue Slushie in his hand and the others in the two next to him, I instantly knew what was coming and my eyes widened in surprise; that was a huge mistake

"Please don-" I was cut off by the freezing drink that was thrown in my face. The ice crystals dug into my widened eyes and it felt like I'd been slapped, nothing could have prepared me for that feeling. I had only ever seen Kurt get Slushied and his looked bad but now I realized he must be slightly used to it because it felt so much worse than Kurt's seemed. I screamed as the gathered group laughed

"Welcome to the Glee Club England!" they jeered and walked off; I stood frozen, in humiliation and with the cold. The students around me sniggered, I rubbed my eyes but instead just got more ice into them I yelped in pain and suddenly I felt an arm on my shoulder. Through the blue haze that clouded my vision I saw dark skin and a black ponytail, Santana.

"Jesus Emily what happened?" I whimpered in response unable to form words from the numbness that the Slushie had caused on my lips "Here, I'll help you get cleaned up." She put an arm around my shoulder and lead me to what I assumed was the girls toilets, I couldn't really see to be sure. She grabbed some tissue and started to rub my face gently to clear the Slushie. I managed to say

"Thank you." Through chattering teeth

"No problem, they really went all out on you Em, the blueberry ones are the worst."

"I feel so special." I sighed and managed to crack open one eye "I didn't think it would be this bad."

"That's exactly what I thought." She said and ran the tap to splash water on my face

"You've been Slushied?" I asked confused

"Yeah, I am in Glee Club aren't I?" she replied and brushed my hair to get the dye and ice out.

"Well I thought with you being a Cheerio and all it would excuse you from the torment."

"Nope, sadly not." She sighed and added "That's about as good as it's gonna get I'm afraid." I looked in the mirror and saw Blue patches still in my hair and some splashes on my clothes

"I guess I'll just have to zip up my hoodie." I smiled one-sidedly

"Yeah sorry." Santana replied "See you later." She opened the bathroom door and left me standing with blue streaks and splashes still in my hair.

"Welcome to America." I sighed and pushed myself off of the sink.

It was the day after my Slushie attack and I walked down the hall to find Finn talking to Santana Brittany and Mercedes, he looked sad and after Britt gave him a hug he walked off in my direction. "Hey what's going on?" I asked him

"Santana and Brittany have left the Glee club." I instantly stopped; it felt like a knife had been plunged into my chest

"Wha-why?"

"To get more solos I suppose." He shrugged his broad shoulders and walked of tossing a goodbye over his shoulder as he went. Tears sprung to my eyes, Santana had left the Glee Club. I didn't know why I was so worked up about it, actually that was a lie I did. I realized in that moment all of my suspicions were true. I did like Santana and as more than a friend, I liked girls, not guys and the sickness that had plagued my stomach for weeks suddenly eased. All that pent up worry, all those nights thinking and crying, wishing this wasn't happening were for nothing. I was gay, I couldn't change that but I could keep it a secret, no way in hell was I going to tell anyone if Tina or Quinn offhandedly mentioned a guy being cute or sexy I would just have to lie and agree with them. I still had a feeling of butterflies deep in my stomach but then suddenly another thought rushed into my head _'What would my parents think?'_ I ran into the girl's bathroom and crashed into a stall, promptly throwing up. They were _Christians. _They _hated _gay people. They were the-in my opinion-stupid Christians the ones who believed Homosexuality was a sin. I had never thought this and now I knew why, because I was gay.

"God help me…." I whispered as I leant over the toilet bowl. No, screw God I didn't need him he apparently hated gays as well so why should I ask for his help? No I was on my own now, no one could help me and the thought made me throw up again.

It was glee rehearsal and Rory was about to try out, he sung Take Care of Yourself. He was truly magical and with a beautiful voice that would help us win Sectionals. The rest of the rehearsal went without a hitch and we all had a great time, even of three of our members were missing

I lay on my bed, picking at the paint that I had splashed on it when Santana came over. Santana she was plaguing my thoughts and I couldn't stop it, I knew what it all meant now but that didn't really help instead it just caused me to want her even more, those lips against mine, my hand in her hair as she held me close…Everything was just becoming too much for me. Suddenly my phone buzzed and I unlocked it to see who had texted me "Speak of the devil…" I muttered the text was from Santana

'Hey wanna run lines with me and Britt over at my place on Sunday?'

'Yeah sure' it took her a moment to reply

'Great could you bring your script and possibly photocopy one, Britt lost hers'

'Yep that's fine, where do you live?'

'53 Shorans Bv'

'Great see you then.' It was Friday so that would probably be the only time I'd see them before Monday so it would be nice to catch up on what we'd been doing over the weekend, I rolled over and sighed I checked my clock and found it was 11:17. I moved further up the bed and lay my head on the pillow falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five.

It was Sunday morning and I groaned as my alarm clock blared at me, I had forgotten to turn it off, _again_. I rolled off the bed and peeled myself off of the bedroom floor. Then I remembered today I was meeting Brittany and Santana at her house. I checked my phone and found I had a message

'Hey can you come round about 1?' I checked the clock and found that I had actually turned my alarm off and instead it was my phone that had awoken me. It was 11:30

'Yeah sure' I replied and in a second so had Santana

'Great see you then' I rubbed my face and went downstairs, I fussed Bolt and gave his chin a little scratch as I got his food out of the cupboard and put it in his bowl then I filled his water bowl and after I set it down he lapped it up quickly. I went over to the fridge and got out the orange juice and poured a glass I grabbed an apple and spotted my script with a post-it note attached.

Don't forget to photocopy this for your friend, your father and I have gone shopping we'll be back around seven because we're gonna have a meal out ~Mum

I sighed and grabbed the stapled together pages. I went over to the desk where we had the main computer and printer and photocopied each page, wasting a hell of a lot of ink but I really didn't care. I munched on the apple, nice a sour just the way I like them. They stopped printing and I stapled them together in the correct order, _'She better not lose this one as well.'_ I thought to myself and put the two together on the kitchen island. I padded into the sitting room through the arch and Bolt followed me. I crashed onto the couch and Bolt jumped up next to me, practically sitting in my lap. Even though he was a huge dog he acted more like a little puppy. I chortled to myself and turned on the TV I watched half an episode of Pretty Little Liars and then went back upstairs to get ready.

I hopped in the shower and washed my hair, time was running out so I put my hairdryer on the highest setting and managed to do it in just over half the time it usually took. I pulled on some clothes and brushed my teeth. I got my makeup out of the drawer I had it in and put on the usual and I added a bit more eyeliner than what I wore for school. I heated up the straighteners and did my hair; thank God it straightened nicely; ruffled my layers slightly and put some hairspray on. I straightened my jeans, shirt and pulled on my leather biker jacket. I opened my wardrobe and fished around for my bag, eventually I found it underneath my hoodie, which still had blue stains on from the Slushie. I chucked my phone in as well and walked downstairs. I sighed looking at the note again, since we'd moved to America my parents had been working later and later, I didn't really mind because I saw them at the weekends or rather I was supposed to, they were constantly going out for meals, or to discuss more buisness opportunities, they both worked at the same firm and so went out at the same time went to the same seminars and left me alone, nearly all of the time it did give me more time to myself though so I could pretty much get away with anything. I locked the front door behind me and opened the garage to get my bike, I wheeled it out and the familiar clicking sound of the chain soothed me. I hopped on and called a hasty goodbye to Bolt who was in the garage.

I pedaled hard and fast, not wanting to be late. I made it to Santana's house and saw a pink bike with rainbow tassels on the handle bars and assumed it was Brittany's. I walked up and knocked on the door, I waited a minute but there was no answer I texted Santana

'Hey I'm here' I waited another minute but there was no reply I knocked again and found that the door was open, I walked in and could hear music playing upstairs, I walked up the stairs and as I got closer I realized the music was really quite loud, it was You Me At Six I recognized the song and so with a smile opened the bedroom door to find Santana lying on top of Brittany kissing her passionately and Britt's hands running up and down Santana's back. They broke away instantly and Santana paled so much she no longer looked Latina. I gulped and quickly stuttered out "Holy shit! I am so sorry! I knocked and texted you but you didn't reply and the door was open so I let myself in. Santana I am so, so sorry I never meant for this to happen." Brittany just looked confused but instead of the look of rage I expected to find on Santana's face there was one of fear and her eyes glazed with tears.

"E-E-Emily?" she stuttered "I thought you were coming round at one?"

"I was; I am. It is one. You're clock must be wrong." I answered and she still looked slightly vacant. Her hair was messed up and there were smudges of lip gloss at the side of her mouth

"I did that once. My clock was wrong and I ended up going to school late and got locked in all night." Brittany said not realizing the seriousness of the situation.

"Please, please don't tell anyone about this I'm begging you." Santana said and a single tear slid down her cheek "Actually why wouldn't you? This is the biggest piece of gossip McKinley High has ever known, probably as good as when Quinn got knocked up so I wouldn't be surprised if you told everyone." She was getting defensive; this _was _what she was hiding.

"I'm not going to tell anyone." I said simply

"Yeah, yeah you go do that tell every-wait what?" She started then corrected herself when she fully heard what I'd said

"I'm not going to tell anyone." I repeated

"Why?"

"Because I respect people's private life and secrets, and besides that I'm your friend Santana or at least I consider myself one of your friends, I love you and Brittany and I would never tell anyone about this. What would I get out of it? Losing two of my friends and being known as the bitch that outed Brittana. I would never do that to you, or anyone for that matter."

"R-really?" I noticed the tears that were falling freely down her face now "I-I've never known anyone who would do that for me."

"Well now you do." I smiled and started walking towards her and sat beside her whilst Brittany moved to sit on the other side of her. "Your secret is completely safe with me, don't worry I will _never_ tell anyone." I put my arm around her shoulder and she cried harder as I hugged her

"I want to be normal!" She wailed and in that moment my heart broke I held her a bit longer and then unwrapped my arms from her and looked into her bleary eyes

"You are normal, both of you." I smiled sadly at Brittany who was now sat behind Santana with her arms around her waist. "Just because you're both girls means nothing, you love each other and that's what counts so what if people don't like it, you're happy and that's all that matters." She smiled at me and I got up ready to leave and give them some time alone

"No, please don't go…" She reached out a hand and I took it, giving it a slight squeeze

"I'm not I'll just give you two a minute to sort yourselves out, then I think I might need your help with something." I decided it was time, time to tell her everything, she had told me so I would tell her.

I sat in the living room on the couch and a few minutes later Santana and Brittany walked down the stairs, hand in hand. I smiled at them and Britt grinned but Santana could only just manage a grimace. They sat on the other couch, Santana in Brittany's lap with her hands round the Latina's waist.

"So, do you wanna talk about this?" I gestured to them

"Yeah, if you don't mind, it's just we haven't told anyone else about us so it would be good to talk to someone." I nodded at Santana's words

"Well how did it start?"

"In Junior year, Puck and I used to 'go out' if you will…" I understood what she meant "But then Puck went to juvie and so Britt and I took to making out to satisfy our, but mainly my needs. Even back then I knew I had feelings for Britt but she didn't know. Then she started going out with Artie and I realized I was jealous. We were still making out even when Britt was with Artie but I started to realize I wanted something more and so this substitute teacher called Miss Holiday talked to us and we sang a song in Glee club. After that I thought a lot about what I wanted and I confessed to Britt that I loved her." She explained and I smiled reassuringly then Brittany spoke up

"We all know I'm not that bright so I was confused about my feelings as well, I loved Santana and I still do now but I also loved Artie. So I told her I couldn't be with her." I nodded

"I was mad as hell, I mean wouldn't you be? So we kinda fell out but then Artie put his foot in it and called Brittany an idiot. So they broke up. Then it kind of died out but we sort of got together in secret and we've been secretly dating since then." Santana finished

"Wow, that's amazing, you kept it up for this long?" I asked

"Yeah but clearly we're not that good at it." She said and her lips quivered

"I'm assuming you're not planning on telling anyone anytime soon?" They shook their heads "Well then you have plenty of time to perfect it." I smiled and Britt grinned, Santana once again only just managed to smile and she got up and gave me a hug

"Thank you; you have no idea what it means to me for you to keep this a secret." I smiled and hugged back

"Now could you give me some advice?" I asked and they nodded, Brittany suddenly very serious I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding and sucked in another one "I think I might be gay too." Santana's eyes widened and Brittany furrowed her brows "There's this girl and from the moment I met her I felt something, at first I was disgusted and tried to push it away but the more I got to know her, the harder it got as my feelings grew and so yesterday I finally admitted it to myself, and I'm kind of okay about it, I mean I can't help it can I? I was made this way and I'm going to stay this way but I'm scared to tell my parents. I'm not ready to tell them yet but, I'm so scared that when they tell them they'll reject me, they're devout Christians,"

"Bible bashers then?" Santana joked and I knew it was because she was nervous

"Yeah you could say that, and they're the ones who hate Homosexuals, Bisexuals the lot. I'm screwed." I sighed and buried my head in my hands

"You could just not tell them?" Britt suggested

"No, I have to it's my responsibility to tell them but I'm terrified of when I do." I started to cry, I tried to stop myself but couldn't Brittany got up and gave me a hug, I buried my face in her shoulder and sobbed "I'm scared they'll kick me out."

"They can't do that they're your parents." Brittany protested

"My parents think they can, they've threatened to do it before when I had a party and we got drunk they said if I ever did it again they would kick me out." Santana looked annoyed and for a horrible moment I thought it was at me then she said

"That's disgraceful; they shouldn't say things like that!"

"Well they do." My sobs turned to hiccups "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come round. I've caused nothing but trouble, for everyone." More tears fell "I have to go." I got off the couch and made my way to the door, my right hand grabbed the door handle but I felt another grab my left wrist.

"No, stay, you've helped me more than you'll ever know and anyway we need to run lines." I turned and smiled and this time Santana managed a smile as well. She pulled me into a hug and Brittany came over and hugged us both

"We have pretty fucked up lives don't we?" I laughed hoarsely

"You can say that again." Santana said and Brittany asked confused

"Why would she want to say it again? We both heard her the first time…" We laughed and walked back over to the couches and got out our scripts to finally rehearse.

I played through the song one last time on my piano in the den. I sighed and sung the chorus again just for good measure and grabbed the sheet music and then placed it inside my folder. I hitched my bag onto my shoulder and went downstairs; I ruffled Bolt's ears as I grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl along with a cereal bar from the cupboard. I knew this was the right thing to do but I was still terrified. I inhaled deeply and exhaled, cracked my knuckles and locked the door behind me; my bike was still out from last night so I picked it up and hopped on, pedaling at a steady pace.

I locked my bike up in the rack outside and shoved the key into my jean pocket, the only way anyone was getting that was if the wanted to touch my ass and if they did, they wouldn't be able to have kids, _ever. _I walked in through the main doors and gave Artie a high five as he wheeled past "Hey! Have you been learning your lines?"

"Of course Mr Director." I laughed and he smiled I made it to my locker and said good morning to Kurt "Hey, you ready for the show?"

"God, I'm nervous as hell but yes I suppose." He replied

"You'll be amazing I know it."

"What about you?"

"I think so, I'm just super scared. I've never done anything like this before." I smiled sheepishly and he replied with a comforting smile

"You'll be fine, I gotta go meet Blaine. I'll see you later."

"Bye." I called as he rushed away. I got the books out of my locker and let out a long breath. I had to do something and I had to do it today. I wound through the students cramming the halls and found Santana at her locker.

"Hey," she smiled and focused on getting a book out of her locker that was jammed

"Hi, I was wondering do you have a free period after Chemistry?" I asked, knowing we shared the same first lesson

"Yeah, why?" My heart did a little jump and I replied

"I wanna show you something, can you meet me in the choir room?"

"I suppose yeah." She said and closed her locker

"Great, can I walk with you to class?"

"Sure." We walked side by side

"So you okay after yesterday?" I asked hesitantly

"Yeah, it helped thanks but can we not talk about it here?" she said

"Oh of course, sorry." I hastily replied and we walked in silence after that. It didn't take long to get to Chemistry and I sat down next to Tina. The lesson seemed to drag on for even longer than usual, probably because I wanted it to end so badly to get my plan over with. Finally the bell rang and I rushed out to get to the choir room and prepare myself.

"Hey, I'm here." Santana said and I sucked in a breath

"Hey." I turned from my place at the piano "I wanted to tell you something."

"Okay…" she trailed off unsure of what was going on

"But as you can probably tell from yesterday, I'm not that good with words, not when it comes to stuff like this." I turned on the stereo and she looked confused "Back up." I explained and I turned back to the piano and played the notes I had practiced all of last night and this morning.

'_Wish I could be the one  
The one who could give you love  
The kind of love you really need  
Wish I could say to you  
That I'll always stay with you  
But baby that's not me  
You need someone willing to give their heart and soul to you  
Promise you forever, baby that's something I can't do  
Oh I could say that I'll be all you need  
But that would be a lie  
I know I'd only hurt you  
I know I'd only make you cry  
I'm not the one you're needing  
I love you, goodbye_

I hope someday you can find some way to understand I'm only doing this for you  
I don't really wanna go  
But deep in my heart I know this is the kindest thing to do  
You'll find someone who'll be the one that I could never be  
Who'll give you something better  
Than the love you'll find with me  
Oh I could say that I'll be all you need  
But that would be a crime  
I know I'd only hurt you  
I know I'd only make you cry  
I'm not the one you're needing  
I love you, goodbye

Leaving someone when you love someone  
Is the hardest thing to do  
When you love someone as much as I love you

Oh I don't wanna leave you  
Baby it tears me up inside  
But I'll never be the one you're needing  
I love you, goodbye

Baby, it's never gonna work out  
I love you, goodbye'

I played out the song's ending notes and turned round with a tear running down my right cheek.

"I'm the girl aren't I? The one you talked about yesterday…" I nodded and my face crumpled as more tears slid down my cheeks, I got up from the stool and turned to her.

"I'm sorry Santana. So sorry, I've tried to push away my feelings for you but I can't," I took a hesitant step forward and she didn't recoil "I know I can never be with you, I know your heart belongs solely to Brittany but I had to tell you the way I feel. I couldn't hide it from you, that wouldn't be right." I sighed "That's all I wanted to say and once again I'm sorry."

"Emily, stop apologizing, you can't help it and although I'm touched by the effort you put into that song you're right I do love Brittany," I nodded sadly as another tear escaped my eye, she walked forward and embraced me

"Please can we still be friends?" I choked out

"Yeah, we can, and one last thing," She took my chin in her hand and lifted it up so my eyes locked with hers. She leant forward and placed a single kiss upon my lips, in that moment everything around us stopped and I was caught in utter ecstasy. There was no passion like when I had seen her and Britt making out, just serenity and care. She pulled away

"I thought you said you loved Brittany?" I asked

"I do but after everything you've helped me with, you deserve something back." She smiled and through my tears I smiled back

"Thank you; you will never know how much that meant to me, for you to be my first real kiss." I admitted

"First kiss? God girl you need to get out more." She joked and I barked a laugh, she gave me one last quick hug and said "You're a beautiful singer Emily, better than Rachel; I wouldn't be surprised if you beat her to all the solos." And that remark left warmth radiating throughout my body and I smiled.

It was rehearsal and we were all going through our lines in pairs or in my case, alone. I felt bad intruding on everyone else so I just decided to run through on my own. Tina walked over and asked if I wanted a hand I smiled and said that would be great. We ran through the lines and laughed when I seriously mixed up something which accidently turned out very dirty. I noticed Mike wasn't with Tina and I asked her what happened.

"We had a fight, he wants to be a dancer and I support him but his dad doesn't so he's shortchanging himself and has applied to Stanford pre-med."

"That's a shame, I can imagine him as a professional dancer or maybe a dance teacher, he taught me some really good moves, helped me improve as well." I said sadly

"That's what I said but he said he didn't want to tear his family apart."

"It is a real shame." I sighed and looked longingly at Santana, luckily Tina didn't notice, she was too busy looking over at Mike. Artie told us to gather round and told us to keep practicing out lines and also to meet here tomorrow if we had a free period and practice choreography. We said our goodbyes and dispersed at different times, I stayed behind a while longer to work on some more dance moves.

"You're really good you know." I whirled round to find Quinn smiling

"Oh Quinn, it's you; you scared the hell outta me!" I laughed and she smiled wider "You really think so?"

"Yeah, you've got the voice, the moves and from what I saw earlier the acting as well. You could be the new Rachel Berry, only without the crazy." I laughed

"Thanks, I think." She chortled and picked up her bag "I heard about your baby." She froze "Just so you know, I don't judge you for getting pregnant, or for wanting to get her back. I can't imagine how it must feel but I've seen Shelby, she's a good mother, don't take that away from her." She turned round and said spitefully

"But she's _my_ baby."

"She was, and she may be beautiful and a ray of sunshine, but right now she's Shelby's ray of sunshine, not yours. You have your whole life ahead of you and many more opportunities and choices to make whereas Shelby doesn't. Don't take away what you can't give back because in the end, you'll regret it." She didn't say anything, just walked out in silence and I knew I had gotten something into her by the way her shoulders sagged as she went.

I sat in an empty classroom, empty except for the girls gathered here. "This emergency meeting is now in session. I realize that we are a house divided but I need the advice of my girls. Even if one of them has only just gotten here." She gestured to me "The last time I called a meeting like this was during our Madonna lesson, and all of you were wildly unhelpful. But it's been two years now and we've all grown up, so I'm optimistic. Finn and I were… almost intimate." My eyebrows rose

"Almost? What happened?" Tina asked

"He ran out. I just, I wanted my performance of Maria to be as realistic as possible, and when he found out that that's why I was doing it, he got really, really hurt."

"I'm not surprised." I said

"Of course he was hurt." Tina exclaimed

"Yeah, that's really bad, Rachel." Brittany added

"I know, I know, I feel terrible, and now I realize that I was just doing it for all the wrong reasons." Rachel tried to defend herself but just ended up sounding winy

"Do you want my advice? Just wait." Quinn said

"Just wait?"

"Look what happened to me." Quinn shrugged

"You could have used protection." Tina suggested

"She has a point." I added

"I'm not just talking about getting pregnant; I'm talking about losing something that you can never get back. It changes you. It makes everything more complicated." She rolled her eyes

"I also think that you should wait. Speaking from experience, Finn is terrible in bed." Santana said offhandedly

"Santana, that is not cool." Tina protested

"What? If Rachel wants my sloppy seconds, she should at least know the truth. Look, it was like being smothered by a sweaty, out-of-breath sack of potatoes that someone soaked in body spray."

"Why do you think Finn's fat? He's really not…" But I was ignored

"I lost my virginity at cheerleading camp. He just… climbed into my tent, alien invasion." I grimaced at Britt's comment

"Okay, well - then I guess it's settled. Obviously things are heating up between Finn and I, but I think we should wait." Rachel said, trying to draw the conversation to a close

"Losing my virginity was a great experience for me. Because I was with someone I love." Tina said and I looked at her, I wasn't aware she had lost the big V. "It happened this summer. Mike and I talked about it for a while, because we knew the first time was gonna be something we'd wanna remember forever. And when that moment came, we just knew. It was right. It wasn't rushed. It was amazing. He's my first love, and I'll always look back at that moment as absolutely perfect. No regrets." I smiled, that seemed like a nice note to end the conversation on so we dispersed quickly saying our goodbyes.

It was the opening night of the musical and to put it lightly I was shitting myself. We still had ten minutes before we went on but the pressure was still getting to me. I fanned myself nervously, hopping about from foot to foot and didn't hear someone come up behind me.

"You look ridiculous." I knew that voice and my heart almost leapt out of my chest I turned round and my suspicions were confirmed

"Chloe!" I squealed and leapt into her arms

"Emily!" we laughed and I almost cried with joy at seeing my best friend again

"What are you doing here!?" I cried excitedly

"Here to see you dumbass!" I laughed "Your parents called me telling me you got a part in the musical and asked if I wanted to come over for the week, its half term back home."

"You're here for the whole week!" I exclaimed

"Yeah here till next Sunday, and I got a visitor's slip so I can stalk you round all your lessons." She wiggled her brows and I chortled, I saw Santana over Chloe's shoulder and I called

"Hey Santana come here!" she turned and even though her brows were knitted together she came over and stood next to me "This is Chloe, my best friend from back over in England. She's here for the week!" I exclaimed and she smiled one-sidedly, similarly to the way she had when we first met "No English jokes!"

"Ugh, you ruin all my fun." She smiled and added "We're on in five minutes so hurry yourself up."

"Will do." She walked off to her mirror to touch up her makeup

"This place is amazing Emily! I wanna live here!" Chloe exclaimed and looked around the auditorium

"I want you to live here." She laughed

"You look amazing by the way." I looked down at my black dress with red under layers and slight red detailing on the chest.

"Thank you." I replied and she gave me a quick hug

"I gotta go and get my seat, good luck, even though I know you'll be amazing." She started to walk away and tossed over her shoulder "Break a leg!" and I called back

"Knowing me I probably will!"

"Hey, Artie. Some of the cast needs to talk to you before we go on." Tina said and I smiled at Artie's worried face

"See? It's mutiny."

"Dude, we have a problem." Puck said and Santana walked out from behind a piece of the set with a huge bouquet of flowers

"We haven't officially thanked you for everything that you've done for us." She smiled

"All of us were so nervous,"

"Me especially, big bad America didn't seem so bad with you helping me Artie.

"And we didn't know what we were doing and you were like the lighthouse that led us the way."

"But I don't know what I was doing either!" He protested "When you're in a chair, it's hard to ever feel like you've grown up. Everyone's always doing stuff for you, get freaked out about saying the wrong thing. So, they coddle you. Sometimes it's hard to ever picture a life of being totally self-sufficient. But directing you guys, the way you trusted me, the way you looked at me and listened to me. It was the first time in my life that I ever felt like a grown man. It's the greatest gift you could give a guy, so - so thank you, guys. For the flowers, and for everything. Alright! Show circle."

"May I, chief?" Puck asked as we assembled "Let's kick some ass!"

"Oh, when I think about when we came to America! Like children! Believing, trusting!" Puck exclaimed, we were on-stage about to perform our musical number.

"Ah, trusting with our hearts open." Santana added Tina was next

"With our arms open."

"You came wi your mou oh en." I tried not to laugh at Rory's terrible accent

Santana was first as the music began to play

'_Puerto Rico  
My heart's devotion  
Let it sink back in the ocean  
Always the hurricanes blowing  
Always the population growing  
And the money owing  
And the sunlight streaming  
And the natives steaming  
I like the island Manhattan  
Smoke on your pipe  
And put that in!'_

All of us sung the chorus  
_'I like to be in America  
Okay by me in America  
Everything free in America'_  
Puck sung the next line  
_For a small fee in America  
_Santana:_  
Buying on credit is so nice  
_Puck:_  
One look at us and they charge twice  
_Tina took up the singing next_  
I have my own washing machine  
_Then Rory_  
What will you have to keep clean?  
_Santana:_  
Skyscrapers bloom in America  
_Tina:_  
Cadillacs zoom in America_

I only had one line but I made the most of it _  
Industry boom in America  
_The boys all sung next_  
Twelve in a room in America  
_Santana:_  
Lots of new housing with more space  
_Puck:_  
Lots of doors slamming in our face  
_Santana:_  
I'll get a terrace apartment  
_Puck:_  
Better get rid of your accent  
_The Jets came in from the back door and we sung the next lines to each other

Girls:_  
Here you are free and you have pride  
_Boys:_  
Long as you stay on your own side  
_Girls:

_Free to be anything you choose  
_Boys:_  
Free to wait tables and shine shoes  
_Girls:_  
I like to be in America  
Okay by me in America  
Everything free in America  
_Puck:_  
For a small fee in America  
_Girls:_  
I like to be in America  
Okay by me in America  
Everything free in America  
_Puck:_  
For a small fee in America  
_Then everyone sung the last chorus_  
Lalalala America! _

_Lalalala America! _

_Lalalala America! _

_Lalalala America!_

The routine went without a hitch and it was the most fun I'd had in years. After that everything went swimmingly, Blaine slightly messed up a move but no one in the audience seemed to notice. And despite the fact they were both virgins, they played the roles very well. We all went back on stage for the final encore and I spotted my parents and Chloe cheering and clapping I grinned and bowed with one arm around Tina and the other round Santana. I laughed and cheered with the others as we walked off stage. Artie then announced

"After party at Breadstix!" We all cheered and I went over to ask him if Chloe could come

"Hey Artie, my best friend from England is visiting could she come to the party?" I smiled pleadingly

"Sure, a friend of yours is a friend of mine I'd be happy to have her over."

"Great thanks Artie!" I gave him a quick hug and saw Chloe standing at the side of the stage entrance I walked over and grinned "How the hell do you keep getting back here?" I asked and she laughed

"Magic." She winked and gave me a crushing hug "You were amazing Emily! Truly fabulous!" I laughed and smiled

"I managed to get you a ticket to the after party." Her face lit up

"Wow really? Thanks!"

"No problem." I smiled and my parents appeared behind us "Did you enjoy the show?"

"Yes, you were really good hunny." Dad said in his usual matter-of-fact manner and patted my shoulder my mum was slightly more enthusiastic

"You were amazing Emmy-babe." I smiled at my nickname and she gave me a hug "We were hoping to spend some time with you tonight but…" she trailed off and my smile dropped as she continued "Your father and I have a very important meeting with a potential client so we have to meet him, over in Oregon ." She let this sink in

"O-Oregon?" I stuttered

"Yes sweetie and we'll be away for most of the week then we'll be coming back," My face brightened at this, that wasn't _too_ bad "And then the next day we're going away for a month, to Italy."

"Wait what!?" I practically yelled and Chloe stood in the background admiring a wall

"We have to, it's important for buisness." Dad joined the conversation

"What and I'm not important?" I glared at him

"Of course you are, but you want a nice home, go to a nice college and for that we need money and to get it we have to make buisness."

"Your father's right, we're doing all of this for you." Mum said and crouched down to my eye level from her heels I glared at her then realized, a whole _month_ to myself alone in the house I tried not to let my delight show on my face

"I suppose you are right, but what will I do about getting food?" I asked

"We've organized for food to be delivered every week on a Saturday and we're also giving you $3,000 extra just in case." My eyes widened and a smile played at my lips

"Okay when do you leave?"

"Our plane's due in 45 minutes, so now." I made a face that must have looked disappointed because my mum smiled and said "Don't worry we'll be back before you know it." She planted a quick kiss on my forehead and then was walking with my father towards the door, neither of them having said goodbye.

We hitched a ride with Santana to get to Breadstix because, to the Glee Club's surprise I had never been. So we had no idea where it was, and also we didn't drive. I had my first lesson in two weeks' time, which was coincidentally when my parents where away, I was in the back of the car with Chloe whilst Santana and Brittany were in the front and every time she changed gears her hand would 'accidentally' brush Brittany' leg. I smiled at their antics, and although I wished it was my leg Santana was brushing I was happy for them. Chloe noticed this as well and looked at me questioningly I typed on my phone _'They're secretly going out' _and showed it to her. Her mouth made an 'O' shape and she smiled. I hadn't told Chloe I was gay yet, I made it my mission to tell her tomorrow although the thought filled me with dread. I sighed and looked out the window at the fading twilight. We came to a stop and I saw a sign with Breadstix on it. Chloe squealed and when we all looked at her she defended herself by saying she was just excited to be in America. I laughed and got out the door into the cool night air. We went inside and ordered pizza and all shared it, we laughed, joked and got absolutely hammered, Chloe and I-along with a couple of other members of the Glee Club- were underage but they didn't seem to notice. It was a few hours later when we rolled out into the car park, Santana was the designated driver and I was leaning on her shoulder, I wasn't actually that drunk but my balance wasn't that good at the best of times.

"Thank you." I said as she opened the car door for me "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," she replied

"Do you think I should tell Chloe that I'm gay? I want to tell her but I'm unsure."

"Maybe, it depends if you're ready and I think you are." She closed the door and then went round and sat in the driver's seat. "I envy your confidence Em, I'm terrified of what'll happen when I tell people." She sighed

"So am I but you have to work through it, everything will turn out alright in the end, if it's not alright then it's not the end." I said and leant back in the chair with my eyes closed. Santana muttered something that sounded like

"I'll go find Chloe and Britt…" And where the car door opened and closed I assumed that's what she had gone to do. My eyes fluttered open and I couldn't see her so I closed them again, I sighed. Tonight had been amazing but I had a feeling tomorrow wouldn't be so great.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six.

"Ughh…" I groaned and rolled out of bed. My head was pounding and I felt as if I was going to be sick, I still hadn't fully recovered from Saturday even if I did drink barely any alcohol. I reached up, stretching my arm and slammed my hand down on the alarm clock. I groaned again and clambered up from the floor, my joints stiff from sleeping funny. I poked Chloe, nothing. "Chloe get up." I said but she didn't budge, I pushed on her shoulder. I sighed and took in a deep breath, she had always been a heavy sleepover I leant over next to her ear and screamed "Chloe get up!" she yelped as she jumped up "Finally." I moaned

"Jesus, you scared the hell outta me!" she panted and I grinned

"Come on, we need to get ready for your McKinley High debut." She smiled and we walked out the door and downstairs. Bolt heard our heavy footsteps and barked loudly as we got down. He jumped up onto Chloe's shoulders and licked her face. She laughed and pushed him down but she loved him really. I smiled as he followed us into the kitchen, his tail wagging happily. I grabbed some juice out of the fridge and Chloe admired our kitchen

"Christ, this is amazing Em!" she exclaimed, her head tilted back to look out of the skylight "How in the hell did your parents afford this?"

"When dad got offered the job he got a huge sum of money from the company to start him off, with him being in one of the highest jobs possible and his track record, they knew he could bring back double the money they gave him." I explained and she looked at me oddly "I read a letter from the company that said that." I smiled and she grinned back

"Ah right." I popped the bread in the toaster and waited for it to crisp over.

"So what's happening back at home?" I asked

"Well Chrissy and Becca broke up, he cheated." My eyes widened

"I know right? Err Mr Banner got fired for…" she thought about it a moment "Oh yeah blinded a student with an experiment and when asked how it had happened he said it wasn't his fault and the student shouldn't have stood so close, so he got sacked." I laughed even though it wasn't funny but I couldn't help myself, I could just imagine Mr Banner leaning back in his chair and casually saying it to our headmaster. The toaster popped so I got up and buttered it for us. "Anyway, I wanna know what's going on around here any cute guys?" I almost chocked on my toast

"Well erm, I wanted to talk to you about that…" I trailed off

"Holy crap Em, you're not pregnant are you?" I nearly spat out my juice that time

"No you dumbass! I-I-I'm…." My heart pounded and my mouth dried up, it was different from when I told Santana and Brittany, I had known Chloe all my life and this could change the way she thought about me, everything we had worked for in our friendship could change in an instant. I took a deep breath and Chloe looked confused slightly "There aren't any cute guys, well not that I think anyway, you probably would. And that's because….because I love girls, the way I should feel about guys." The words tumbled from my mouth and Chloe's dropped

"R-really?" I nodded and tears sprung to my eyes, this was where she ran out the house, leaving my forever. She would never want to speak to me again, would ignore me and hate me. Nothing would ever be the same

"I-'m sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." I got up but she caught me wrist

"It's okay." She said simply

"What?"

"It's okay, you can't help it, and I'm glad you told me." She smiled reassuringly and the tears slid down my face but across a smile.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I cheered and hugged her tightly, over her shoulder I caught sight of the clock and exclaimed "Shit were gonna be late!" we broke apart and leapt up, we raced up the stairs, one behind the other and rushed into my ensuite bathroom. We fought over mirror space and laughed as Chloe drew eyeliner up the side of her face by accident, she quickly washed it off and we got changed. I put on red jeans, black top with a knitted skull on and grabbed a hoodie. Chloe wore deep purple jeans, a cream shirt that had _Riot! _printed in purple and a leather biker jacket. We did our hair and rushed downstairs, I promised Bolt I would take him on a walk tonight and we raced for the bus as it began to pull away. Luckily we caught it and as we sat down tried to catch our breath but just ended up laughing at each other.

"So, when did you figure out you were…"she added the last part in a whisper "Gay."

"Last week, I started feeling things towards girls in the first week of school but I didn't fully realize, or accept it until last week." I replied mutedly

"Ah right, so who's the special someone?" she asked with a smile and I sighed

"Santana."

"Wait the girl who gave us a ride on Saturday?" I nodded "But isn't she going out with…" I nodded again and she didn't need to finish the sentence

"I told her."

"You did what!?"

"I told her through song, that I wanted to be with her but knew that I couldn't because of Britt." I sighed and she looked confused at the singing part "In Glee club it's kind of tradition to express feelings through song, it's a lot easier than actually talking, and more sincere." She nodded her head once

"And what did she do?"

"She said that it was fine, and that we could still be friends, and as a thank you; she kissed me." I said the last part with a smile

"What about Brittany?" Chloe asked

"That's what I said and Santana said she would always love Brittany but she loved me too as a friend and so gave me what I really wanted, an apology gift maybe?" I smiled

"That's really sweet, although I heard at Breadstix she's a bitch." I barked a laugh

"Not a bitch, defensive. She insults other people because she's constantly at war with herself and her feelings." I replied

"Oh, because she's gay?" she said in a whisper

"Yeah." I nodded sadly and then we were at school "Ready?" I looked at her

"As I'll ever be…"

The day went well with Chloe following me round my lessons, she just showed the teacher her pass and they let her sit with me and watch me do my work. I asked her after second period if she was bored but she replied that she was listening to music and playing on her iPod. I laughed and we walked to next lesson. History, the lesson went by quite quickly, it was slightly boring but I didn't mind having Chloe there was amazing, it felt like I was back in England. Sometimes I really missed it, other times not at all. I think what I missed the most was thinking I was straight, now that I had realized I was gay, everything was becoming more complicated. Whenever I got changed for Gym class I had to stare at the floor to keep myself from checking out the other girls. Now that I looked back with greater understanding I realized when I was in England I would check out other girls in the locker rooms, but I had thought nothing of it, now that I knew why I couldn't do it. I sighed as the bell rung for lunch. We gathered our things and were dismissed from the lesson, I linked arms with Chloe and I showed her the way to the Cafeteria. I grabbed a chicken sandwich and Chloe got a ham one. We sat down at the usual table and waited for the others to fill up around us, once everyone was there I cleared my throat to get their attention "Everyone, this is Chloe, she's my friend from back in England and she's staying here for a week." Everyone said their hellos but all looked slightly so I added "She got a visitors pass so she can come round school with me, anyway how did you get one of those?" I directed the question at her

"I said I was writing an article for the Daily Mail on the differences between England and America." The whole table laughed and I punched her arm

"Idiot."

"Look who's talking." I grinned and we all carried on with lunch. Everyone introduced themselves properly although they had briefly met Chloe at the party at Breadstix. It was great, my English friend with my American ones. It was so fun and we all had a good laugh, then it was time for fifth period and we all went our separate ways.

The lesson passed quickly and then it was the best part of the day, Glee practice. I dragged Chloe by the hand to the choir room, seriously looking forward to showing her how great it was. We went in and Chloe admired the instruments and we sat at the front whilst everyone filled up the seats around us. Mr Schue walked in and Puck asked if he could perform a number he had been working on, Mr Schuester readily agreed and Puck grabbed a guitar, Finn sat behind the drums and Blaine and Mike sung back up. He performed Hot for Teacher and it was amazing! Even I felt something in my lady loins for that performance. We all applauded and Chloe seemed to like the look of Puck, I grinned at her and wiggled my brows "Wow! Puck, guys that was spectacular! What a way to start off the week" You didn't even need an assignment to work on this! You just did it!" Mr Schue exclaimed giving them all high fives.

"Mr Schuester, whilst the performance was excellent, particularly the drumming," Rachel interrupted "Don't you think that the subject matter is a little inappropriate?" I seriously wanted to slap her but held myself back

"Well it depends on what Puck's intent was when he chose this song." Puck gazed out the window for a second and then replied

"I guess I just dig Van Halen." He said

"All right rock on!" Mr Schue said but he sounded ridiculous and the Glee clubbers all began to clap again "Great job guys."

We walked into the auditorium after being summoned there by Mr Schue this morning. Chloe was waiting for me at my locker. Suddenly from the other side of the stage the Troubletones walked in.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked them

"Shelby told us she had something to show us. What are you doing here?" Mercedes replied and Finn said

"Mr Schue said the same thing."

"Oh let me guess he wants to combine choirs for sectionals, well it's not gonna happen the Troubletones are here to stay. So why don't you shuffle your busted choir off of our stage." Santana said and I folded my arms and glared at her

"Look you guys we can compete without being enemies, alright we don't have to get vicious." Finn said and he had a point

"Oh I think we do Self-serve" Santana replied and I could see she had had a bad day, her constant insults were a sign of that "See the Troubletones are three F; Fierce, Femme, Phenomenal." I was going to say that Phenomenal began with a P but Santana wasn't finished "Oh and guys, go and get some moist towels we have to keep Finn wet before we can roll him back in the sea." Yep definitely having an off day.

"You know what Santana, Finn is in great shape and your meanness only highlights your personal insecurities." Rachel butted in

"And Rachel you're mustache is thicker than a Middle-Eastern dictators." I tried not to laugh but couldn't help it and a chuckle escaped my lips. Suddenly a guitar rhythm started playing and Mr Schue and Shelby walked out and started singing then Britt said

"Is this what having a stroke feels like? Because I think I like it." They sung a mash up of You and I by Lady Gaga and You and I by Eddie Rabbit. We all swayed to the music and it really was great by the end we were all clapping and cheering, our differences forgotten.

"Mr Schue, Shelby I think we can all admit that that was weirdly amazing." Rachel said, I noticed she always had to be the first person to say something, and the last. "But what exactly at the point?"

"That sometimes, bringing together two, conflicting things can create something totally unexpected." Mr Schuester explained

"We're not combing Glee Clubs Mr Schue." Mercedes protested

"Not what I'm talking about, Shelby and I agree that with sectionals coming up for both of us, it's time we all got serious, with some friendly competition." He explained

"Each group is gonna put together their own mash-up to perform head to head." I grinned at Shelby's words

"For the third annual McKinley High Mash-off." They said the last part in unison and we all cheered in excitement. This was going to be awesome.

"Right you guys we have our work cut out for us this week with this mash-up!" Mr Schue announced as he walked in the door, Chloe smiled she seemed to think Mr Schue was very cute and like him very much. I had told her about the Mash-off and she thought it was a great idea "The Troubletones have a lot of powerful voices, so song selection is key here any suggestions?" Artie started us off by suggesting the Clash, then everyone else butted in and you barely understand what anyone was saying, Then Finn spoke up

"Guys, no, no we can't use any of those bands." We all looked at him in confusion "The only thing they have in common is that they all broke up and right now the New Directions need to feel united." I nodded in agreement

"I like what you're saying Finn, it's not just about the music but where it comes from." Mr Schue said

"Who do you think we should use?" Tina asked

"Well how about this," Finn got up and walked to the front "People think Hall & Oats are just famous for their big puffy hair and that dudes bangin' stache." I chuckled

"Awesome." Mr Schue agreed

"But also their awesome for staying together over the long-haul."

"Just like us." Rachel replied "Despite all their differences."

"I think we should give this solo to the new guy, get him prepared for what's in stall when the stakes get high." I saw Blaine start to smile and then crumple when Finn added "Rory, I think you'll do a good job."

"Thanks Finn but don't think I'm ready for that honor just yet." He replied and Blaine turned round to encourage him

"Come on Rory, you're totally ready. You'll kill it and we'll all help you." I smiled and added

"Of course, and anyway with a voice like yours how could we lose?" he grinned at me

"It's a great idea Finn." Blaine said

"Thanks." He replied and the rehearsal continued with us deciding on the songs we were going to use and then who sung which part, I didn't get a solo but I didn't mind it was still going to be awesome!

Finn had us gathered in the choir room, he was being rather secretive and I asked "Where's Mr Schue?"

"I don't know and that's why we have to be quick, I challenged Santana and the Troubletones to a game of dodgeball, in about 15 minutes." He said

"What!?" Kurt exclaimed

"Yeah, and we're gonna thrash them." He said confidently

"I love dodgeball; I was a bit of a pro in England." I joked and Tina smiled at me

"Is there anything you can't do?"

"Pat my head and rub my stomach, I never did learn to do that." They laughed and I grinned

"Let's go kick some ass."

We were changed and warming up in the sports hall, our team was in red while the Troubletones were in black. I smiled smugly; I _loved_ dodgeball, one of the few sports I was actually good at. I overheard Rachel trying to speak to Kurt "This could be deadly, facing our foes head on without any adult supervision." I shook my head Kurt had told me about how she had been horrible to him so when she pushed her away I didn't blame him. Finn blew the whistle and shouted at us

"Let's roadhouse!"

"Oh it's on Pillsbury doturd." Santana said and I shook my head in mock dismay then Rory spoke up

"Excuse me but I've never heard of this game of dodging balls before, what are the rules?"

"Don't die." Puck said simply and I clapped Rory on the back

"You'll be fine, just follow my lead." He smiled appreciatively at me and then grimaced as the Troubletones mimed punching him I bared my teeth back at them.

"Let's do this." Brittany said and turned on the stereo, the music started and as we all got into our huddles we bobbed to the music. We sung a mash-up of Hit Me with Your Best Shot and One Way or Another. It was beyond fun, Rory got hit out quite early but he did better than I expected. Chloe cheered from the bleachers as I got Mercedes and a load of other Cheerios out. It was nearing the end with only, Finn and I on our team and Santana and Brittany on the other side. Brittany and I both threw our dodgeballs at the same time which resulted in us both getting each other out. Then just Finn and Santana left and as she threw the ball right at his head I knew we were going to lose, it smacked him right in the face and the Troubletones cheered and laughed.

"Okay, good game." Finn said good-naturedly and Santana pointed at him in victory. Rory came up behind and exclaimed

"Boy oh boy that was a cracker!" I chortled but then saw the look on Santana's face

"What?" Britt asked confused and then Santana lobbed a ball at Rory and the others pelted him as well. My mouth gawped, that looked painful Kurt rushed forward and I stumbled after him

"Stop! Stop! For God's sakes he's bleeding!" Rory looked like he was in pain but also slightly confused, Kurt grabbed one arm and I grabbed the other "Maybe that's how the others treat us around here but we don't do this to each other. We're better than this." I helped Kurt get Rory off of the floor

"Calm down Grandma." Santana said defensively

"No you calm down, you've seriously hurt him Santana!" I said disgusted at her behavior

"This game is over." Kurt said and we lead Rory to the bathroom to clean up his busted nose.

It was the day after the dodgeball game and I was walking up the corridor when I saw Santana talking to Rory and Finn, I was about to go up to her and tell her to lay off when I caught part of their conversation.

"-I'm here to apologize." Finn looked happy for a moment then Santana began to speak again "Rachel's right I haven't been fair to you, you're not fat I mean I should know I slept with you." I didn't catch the start of her next sentence because a girl from my Biology class say hi to me.

"Whoa." Rory said

"Please stick a sock in it, or ship yourself back to Scotland, I'm trying to apologize to Lumps the Clown." I raised my brows, although I shouldn't think that she really was good at insults "I am sorry Finn, I'm sorry that the New Directions are gonna get crushed by the Troubletones, I'm also sorry that you have no talent, I'm sorry that you sing like you're having your prostate checked and you dance like you have been asleep for years and someone just woke you up." Finn looked deep in thought and I dreaded what he was going to say to her "Have fun, riding on Rachel's coattails for the rest of your life although you know what? I would just watch out for her come Holiday time if I were him because if I were her, I would stick a stent in one of those boobs and le the Finn blubber light the Hanukah lamp for eight magical nights." She smiled sweetly and started to walk away, I was about to chase after her and give her a piece of my mind but then Finn said, very loudly

"Hey Santana why don't you just come out of the closet?" My eyes widened further than I ever thought they could go and Santana stopped in her tracks. A Cheerio looked back at them but then carried on her way. "You know why I think you're so good at tearing everybody else down," he started towards her "It's because you're constantly tearing yourself down because you can't admit to everybody that you're in love with Brittany and she might not love you back." He reached her and I finally took a step forward as he carried on "That must hurt not being able to admit to everyone how you really feel. You know what I think you are? A coward." He turned "See you at the Mash-off." I quickened my pace and rushed past Finn to Santana, I came round to the front of her and she looked as if she was going to breakdown and cry.

"Santana, are-are you okay?" I asked and she looked me straight in the eye

"Do I look okay to you?" she snarled and I sighed

"Santana, I'm trying to help, I know remember? There's no need to be defensive around me."

"Oh but there is, because I every time I stop being defensive, let my walls come down I end up getting hurt and I am sick of hurting." A tear slid down her cheek and in that moment I had never been as angry at someone as I was at Finn. "Get out of my way, I have to go. See you at the Mash-off" She said hatefully and rammed past me. I wasn't going to go to the Mash-off, oh no I had something far more important to do.

I stood with the large bar in my hand, it was dark and I was in black clothes so I couldn't be seen. I brought the bar up above my head and started to bring it down on the car hood in front of me but just as I was about to cave it in, I stopped. I brought it back up but this time I couldn't even start to bring it down onto Finn's car. I lowered it and let it drop from my grip, it rolled a few feet away and I slumped to the ground. I couldn't do this, it wasn't right. No that's not what was wrong. This wasn't punishment _enough_. I was going to make him pay for what he had said to Santana, one way or another.

I waited until everyone had left the auditorium and I knew Finn would stay behind to clear up, he was good like that._ No._ I thought _He's not good; he's horrible he just practically outed Santana, he has to pay._ I walked through the stage door and it made a loud creaking noise, Finn jumped and smiled when he saw me, I didn't smile back. "Hey Em, where were you today?" he asked cheerily

"Thinking." I said stiffly

"Hey are you okay?" he asked as I made my way towards him, each step bringing me closer to my goal "Emily?"

"I'm fine, but Santana's not." I replied gruffly

"What do you mean?" he asked putting on his dopey face

"Oh you know exactly what I mean Finn." He still looked confused "Today in the hallway," I decided to quote him "_Hey Santana why don't you just come out of the closet?_ Huh? Sound familiar." His face paled "Ah now you remember."

"She wouldn't stop insulting me, or Rory, she got what she deserved." He said but he looked unsure

"You really are as dumb as you look." It hurt me a bit to say these things to him but I reminded myself what he had done to Santana "You didn't see her afterwards, I did. I'd never seen her hurting so badly, so sad, so _broken._" His confidence seemed to dim "Do you have any idea what she's going through? Any idea how much she's hurting, breaking, dying inside?"

"N-no." he said shakily but then added "And I suppose you do?"

"Yes as I matter of fact I do, I found her and Brittany and she cried, cried harder than I've ever seen anyone cry and it broke me to see her that way." I said fiercely and got right up in his face, despite the height difference "I helped her believe in herself, recover from what she was feeling and in less than a minute you tore it all down, threw everything away and now you're gonna pay." I took him by surprise and brought my fist up in a large arc, I hit him right in the side of his face, he spun away

"What the hell?"

"You broke her!" I screamed and ran towards him, I through another punch but he pulled away "You broke her freaking heart and walked all over it! She was dying inside and you ripped away her life support!" I ran at him again and managed to slap him across the right cheek where I had previously punched him I tried to swing another but he caught my fist and then my other arm. I started to cry, all of my rage and insecurities pouring out, I crumpled to the floor. Finn kneelt down next to me and I sobbed, he pulled me into a hug and I screamed in sorrow. The floodgates had opened and I couldn't stop them "You hurt her, but what hurt the most was to see her that way, see her breaking and crumbling." He rocked me in his lap and I buried my face in his shoulder "I wanna be with her Finn! But I can't because of Brittany!" I realized what I'd said and looked up into his eyes

"You want to be with her?"

"Yes, and I can't help it…" my sobs turned to hiccups and he held me again

"It's okay Emily; everything is going to be okay." I coughed

"How?" I wailed

"Because I'm going to help you." He said and I smiled, his face was swelling slightly and I touched it gently, he flinched in pain

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it, here let me get you an ice pack." I started to get up but he pushed down on my shoulders

"I'll get one later, right now let's get you cleaned up." He smiled and I did a sort of grimace he stood up and offered me his hand, I took it gratefully and hand in hand he lead me to the bathroom to clean myself up.

It was two days since I had punched Finn and he had been talking to me regularly, Rachel was confused as to why he was spending so much time with me but I lied and said we were partners for a science project. I don't think she believed us but she didn't seem to question us anymore. Aside from Santana and Brittany, Finn was the only Glee clubber I had told and it was good to be able to talk to him. It was time for the Troubletones to sing their mash up and as I sat next to Kurt and he told me about how Rachel had withdrawn her candidacy for President I could hear them warming up. They came out on stage and Santana looked like she was about to cry, they performed a mash-up of Rumor Has It and Someone Like You, which reminded me of when I tried out for Glee Club. They were amazing and in my opinion should win. The singing was perfect and had the choreography to match. Santana sung the parts from Someone like You and she was way better than I had been for my audition although Kurt whispered "You sung it better." I smiled gratefully at him and focused back on the performance. Towards the end I heard Finn whisper to Rachel

"Wow, they were amazing." I smiled they really were, the song finished and Santana jumped off stage

"What did you just say to her?" she questioned him

"I said I thought you were great." He replied confused and she shook her head

"No, you're lying."

"He literally just said that-" Rachel started but Santana cut her off

"You tell her too?" I instantly realized this was about her being gay and Mr Schue started to get up and I wondered _since when had he been involved in this?_

"Santana…"

"Everyone's gonna know now, because of you." She pointed at him and Finn replied

"The whole school already knows, and do you know what? They don't care." I started to get up and try and calm her down

"Not just the school you idiot, everyone!" she yelled

"What are you talking about?" He asked confused and I was also confused and the suddenly she slapped him, hard. She panted heavily and the whole auditorium went silent.

I lay on my bed beside Chloe and told her what had happened. "If it all wasn't so drastic it would have been kind of funny." I said with a sad smile and Chloe replied

"Yeah, I still wish I'd seen it though." I barked a laugh and then I heard I large engine rev outside, my curiousness got the better of me and I jumped off the bed, Chloe following close behind. I looked out to find a movers van parked across the street, I man got out of the front with short black hair. He looked in his late forties then a girl with long dyed red hair got out of the front. She had a slight side fringe and her hair came down to a little past her shoulders. The girl turned and looked in my window, I instantly dropped to the floor and dragged Chloe down with me, I had met her eyes only for a second, but in that short space of time I had made a connection and I had only felt that way once before, over a month ago in my first week at school, with Santana.

Chloe was downstairs ordering takeout and whilst my thoughts should have been plagued by her departure in two days instead it was plagued by the girl who had moved in across the street; her shining blue eyes, golden hair and sweet smile when she had noticed me in the window. Now I was confused. I thought I had had feelings for Santana I mean, I punched Finn for her but in the moment when our eyes met I had forgotten all about Santana and the way she had made me feel instead all I could see and think about was the girl next door. I sighed as Chloe came back into the room, "Hey, he said it'll be about twenty minutes." She said and noticed my expression on concentration "What is it now?"

"The girl across the street." I said simply

"What about her?" she asked and flopped down on the bed

"I had, have, feelings…for her." I admitted

"You don't even know her!" Chloe protested

"Doesn't stop you telling me a guy you don't know and will most likely never see again is hot." I lashed back

"Touché."

"Exactly."

"But what about Santana?" she asked confused

"That's the point, when my eyes met that girl's I didn't care about Santana only her." I mulled this over for a while and we continued to sit in silence "I should make her a welcome basket."

"What the hell for?" Chloe asked unimpressed

"We got about five when we moved here; I should make her family one. I mean we have loads of food left over from what my parents ordered us and I could back some muffins." I explained and Chloe snorted "What?" I asked confused

"You're a lesbian and you're going to make the girl you have a crush on muffins?" She burst out laughing

"Yeah, yeah very funny." I smacked her with a pillow and she huffed

"I was just trying to lighten the mood." I grinned to show her I wasn't really mad and then the doorbell rang. "Pizza!" she exclaimed and raced downstairs, I followed. We paid the delivery guy and crashed onto the couch with the box. In 10 minutes it was gone and I suggested we take Bolt for a walk "You just want to check out that girl." She smiled evilly and I punched her arm

"Maybe, but we need to burn that off and Bolt needs a walk anyway." We shoved the box in the bin and grabbed Bolt's lead. We unlocked the front door and walked out, I had a hold of Bolt because he was really strong when he pulled on it and Chloe wasn't that used to having him. The people across the street were still unpacking so I lead Bolt around the estate and when we came back the girl was sitting on the curb, tapping the screen on her iPhone. We walked across, me leading the way, or rather Bolt dragging me. "Hey, you just moving in?" I asked and the girl's head shot up

"No I drag all of my furniture out of a van into my house every day." She smiled and I stuck out a hand

"I'm Emily Andrewson, I live across the street." She stood up and she was a couple of inches taller than me, she shook and her hand fit perfectly into mine

"Amelia Graham, I live here." I laughed and she added "By the way, it's not illegal you look out of your window, you didn't have to duck when I noticed you." My eyes widened and Chloe snorted I stamped my foot onto her toe and she yelped in pain

"Sorry didn't see your foot there Chloe." I smiled sweetly and she replied through gritted teeth

"It's fine Emily." Amelia laughed

"Are you two sisters?" I shook my head

"No, this is my friend Chloe, she's visiting from England. I used to live there." I explained

"Ah England, I went there on Holiday once, to Durham." She said

"That's where we're from!" I exclaimed and Chloe snorted again

"Really, awh I wish I'd met you then, you seem pretty cool." I blushed and Chloe covered her mouth to stop from laughing. I wanted to slap her across the face "And who's this cute little fella?" she gestured to Bolt

"Oh this is Bolt my dog, he may look big and scary but he's a puppy dog at heart." She ruffled his ears and scratched under his chin, Bolt's tail wagged happily

"I can see that."

"Amelia! Come on we have to unpack!" A male voice called from inside

"That's my dad, I have to go. See you later!" she called over her shoulder as she went inside

"It must be love, love, love." Chloe sang and I punched her in the arm to which she punched me back. Maybe she was right.

Tears streamed down my face as I hugged Chloe tightly. "Ring me as soon as you get back." I sniffed

"Of course I will." She replied

"You're coming to visit again soon right?" I asked

"Christmas break." She replied "I'll have to keep my visitor's pass because you're still at school for the first week." She smiled and more tears ran over my cheeks

"I'm gonna miss you so much." I wailed

"I'll miss you too." She said and hugged me tightly one last time as the tanoy announced that her plane was boarding

"I don't want you to go!" I wailed, it was like when I first left to come to America

"I don't want to go either but I have to, I'll call you." She waved and turned away "Love you!" she called over her shoulder and I whispered

"I love you too." I turned and buried my face in my father's suit and he pulled away

"This is expensive Emily! Please use a tissue, and stop making such a scene." I looked up at him in disbelief "Now there's been a change of plans we're going away for another week back to Oregon."

I smiled hopefully "And then we're coming back for three days and then going to Italy, for two months."

"Two months!" I yelled in surprise

"We have to sweetie." Mum said and then the announcer came on saying that their plane was boarding as well, "That's us, bye honey."

"Bye mum." Dad said nothing as they walked away and I made my way slowly out of the airport and onto the bus, I had never felt so alone.

I lay on my bed crying, this was by far the worst weekend of my life, the only thing that made it better was knowing I could go to Glee Club tomorrow. I was still in my clothes but despite that I fell into a fitful sleep, tormented by nightmares.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven.

I walked through the front doors of McKinley High in subdued silence. Ever since Chloe had left yesterday I had been a wreck, I had barely slept last night and she still hadn't called me. I sighed and hit something. I looked up to find that-being lost in my thoughts-I had walked into Rick 'the stick' Neilson, the hockey player who had Slushied me. He smiled evilly "Hey England, haven't seen you for a while." I tried to step aside but his other teammates cornered me "I was saving this Slushie for Gay-boy Hummel but I think that I might just use it on you." He grinned and I looked down at the red Slushie in his hand

"Please don't." I begged but he didn't care, he laughed and tossed it right in my face, I thought maybe because I had been hit with one before it wouldn't be as bad but I was sadly mistaken, it was just as bad as the first time and I stood with my mouth open in shock and my eyes squeezed shut.

"Later Gleeatch!" he jeered and sauntered off I put my books down and rubbed the ice away from my eyes but the red still clouded my vision

"Emily, is that you?" A familiar voice asked, but I couldn't place where from

"Y-yes, who is that?" I asked still not able to see

"It's Amelia, can you not see me? I'm right in front of you." My heart skipped a beat and I stammered

"N-no, all I see is red."

"Christ, come on I'll get your books." She put an arm around my shoulder after I heard her rustling on the floor. She led me to the bathroom and by that time my vision was improving. I smiled sadly at her as she came out of the cubicle with a wad of toilet paper; she ran it briefly under the tap. She then started to wipe away the red food colouring that was staining my face. Amelia brushed away some of the ice crystals and her hands were so warm and soft against my freezing face. She smiled sadly at me and then asked "Why did he throw a drink at you?"

"It's called being Slushied," I mirrored what Kurt had said on my first day "Because I'm in Glee Club."

"Really? At my old school out Glee Club was highly respected, I was going to join but I didn't make the cut." She reminisced

"I would suggest joining ours but I highly doubt you would want this to happen to you." I gestured to my stained hair and clothes

"You did."

"What?" I asked confused

"I'm assuming you knew what you were getting yourself into when you joined; the whole Slushie thing?" I nodded "But you still joined, because you enjoy it that's what counts." I smiled

"I suppose you're right." The bell rang and she finished cleaning my face "Thank you."

"No problem, I'll see you later." She called as she walked out the door and I sighed, throwing the last of the tissue into the bin.

I walked into the choir room to find Santana and the Troubletones sat on one side of the classroom whereas the New Directions were on the other. Strangely my heart didn't do a little jump like it usually did when I saw Santana. "Can someone tell us what's going on please?" Mercedes asked and I turned to find Finn writing on the board, I sat down next to Tina and Finn moved aside revealing the writing,

Lady Music Week

"This week, the Troubletones and New Directions will both be singing music made by ladies and for ladies." Finn announced

"Oh hell no." Santana replied and I realized what this was about

"Next week all of us will be going to sectionals and one of us is probably going to win but Santana we're worried about you." Finn carried on regardless

"Worry about yourself fetus face." Santana lashed back and Mr Schue sighed

"Glee is about learning to accept yourself for who you are, no matter what other people think and that's what this music is all about." He gestured to the board and the words hit home with me, here they were helping Santana come to terms with her sexuality and I was still there in the background silently dying inside about mine. His eyes flicked briefly in my direction and he saw my sad face but he focused on Santana not wanting to let on about me.

"So wait I don't even get a say in this? Not cool." She said with a shake of her head

"Everybody in this room knows about you and Brittany, and we don't judge you for it, we celebrate it, because it's who you are. Look I know not everybody outside of this room is as accepting and cool but we're doing this assignment this week so that you know in this rotten, stinking mean world that you at least have a group of people who support your choice to be whoever you wanna be. That's it. That's what we're doing here." Finn finished his speech and I smiled over at Santana "Blaine, Kurt." He gestured to the other gay couple in the room and they got up and walked to the front

"Santana, Kurt and I have a song we like to sing to each other in the car and we wanna sing that for you right now." Blaine explained

"Well there's nothing I'd love more than have two pretty ponies serenade me I think we'd get further staging a gell-ervention for Blaine than singing lady music." She said with a flick of her head I sighed

"I know it's hard, it was hard for me too but you can get through this." Kurt said

"If you'd just stop being so defensive." Blaine added and Santana quickly butted in

"I'm trying but your hideous bowties are provoking me."

"Wait are we talking lady on lady or girl on girl cause there's a big difference." Puck wondered aloud

"Oh shut your pie hole Puck, we're trying to help Santana not go talk about our deepest sexual desires." I snapped and Mr Schue added

"Puck, focus okay? Kurt, Blaine why don't you kick us off with what you got?" They started to song Perfect by P!nk and tears welled in my eyes. They were singing to Santana but they had no idea how much this was affecting me. The song finished and I sniffed but clapped along with everyone else

"Thank you guys, thank you Finn especially you know with all the horrible crap I've been through in my life, now I get to add that." She said fake sweetly and did a small clap and pursed her lips.

I rushed out of the choir room, I needed to breathe. I ran into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. I leant against the sink and sucked in breath, after breath. The song had gotten to me and I was now crying freely. I stood there for about 5 minutes before I composed myself and walked out of the bathroom and straight into Finn. I looked up into his eyes and felt tears prick mine again. "Hey are you okay?" he asked

"No, I'm not. I can't do this Finn, I can't be gay!" I said and leant against his chest and he hugged me

"I'm sorry I should have told you I was doing this…it must be hard seeing Santana with Brittany." I forgot he thought I still liked Santana

"No, everything's more complicated than that. I don't think I like her anymore, I mean I will always remember how she helped me realize I was gay but I need to move on, she's with Britt and anyway there's someone else…." I trailed off

"Really? Who?" he asked

"This girl Amelia, she just moved here." I said with a smile

"Well then, why don't you invite her to join Glee club?" he asked with a grin "We need some more girl power." I laughed

"Yeah, she was thinking about it anyway." I smiled and he smiled back, he gave my arm a squeeze.

"I gotta go meet Rachel but I'll see you later." He walked off and I sighed and wondered _If we'd never moved to America would any of this have happened?_

I missed Puck's performance because I had a tone of revision to catch up on but I wasn't planning on missing the next one. I wandered down the hall, looking for Amelia when I came upon Santana and Finn, I pretended to be fiddling with a locker. I shouldn't pry but I was worried about Santana too.

"-It's pretty sweet right?" Finn asked, I assumed he meant the assignment

"Do you realize you're basically forcing me out of the flannel closet?" Santana replied

"Salazar's ads gonna run that's what's forcing you to deal with this." Finn said _Salazar, as in the congress candidate, and what ad?_

"Why are you getting so worked up about this?" she asked

"Because I don't want you to die." He admitted and she looked confused "A few weeks a kid who made one of those 'it gets better' videos killed himself. You deal with your anxieties surrounding this stuff by attacking other people, some day that's not gonna be enough for you and you might start attacking yourself."

"Yeah well thanks but that's never gonna happen, I'd miss me too much." She replied and I shook my head _God! Why wouldn't she just let us help her?_

"Look you were my first that means something to me." He said in hushed tones "You mean something to me, and if something were to happen to you and I didn't do everything I could to try and stop it I would never be able to live with myself." He said and that hit home for her, I saw her expression change and become one of sadness but also understanding. I walked towards her

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine," she said and I added

"Hey I heard something about an ad what's that all about?"

"Reggie, the sauce, Salazar is going to run an ad that will out me." Santana replied and her lips quivered "It's going to air soon, and everyone's gonna know…" a tear slid down her cheek and I pulled her into a hug

"That's awful, but everything's gonna be fine. Just let the Glee club help you and I have a song I've been working on as well." I smiled and walked off, leaving her to her thoughts.

Finn sat on a chair singing an acoustic version of Girls Wanna Have Fun and it really was beautiful. The other boys helped sing back up and by the end of it Santana had let out a few tears and gave Finn a big hug "Thank you." She whispered and Finn replied

"I love you Santana." I shed a tear at that and smiled at them. I sighed and Mr Schue carried on the rehearsal with some techniques and other things but I wasn't listening I was thinking.

I had seen the ad, and it was as bad as I thought it was going to be, I had no idea how Santana must be feeling so the next day when I walked into school I met up with the other girls and as we walked along we saw a guy with Santana, instantly we were by her side. "Move your busted creeper ass." Mercedes said and Tina added

"Now." And for good measure I said

"Before I bust your ass."

"Easy girls, I'm just trying to make her normal." He replied with a smug look

"She is normal." Britt said and Quinn got all up in his face

"It's not a choice idiot and even if it were you'd be her last choice."

"Oh I get it, your all a bunch of lezbos." He said and I must have looked shocked because Rachel butted in

"Oh so what if we are, you don't stand a chance either way. Buh bye, walk away." He showed him off and sang I Kissed A Girl, we traveled down the hall, Santana and Rachel taking it in turns to sing lines whilst the rest of us sung back up. We made it to the choir room and danced and sang for the boys, safe to say they enjoyed it. We cheered at the end and Santana spoke first

"Whoa update y'all I told my parents last night and they were actually okay with it!" We all clapped and she added "Now I just need to tell my abuela before she sees that stupid commercial but luckily she only watched Univision." Suddenly Figgins came in and demanded to see Kurt in his office immediately which instantly put a downer on the mood.

I lay on my bed texting Tina about what I had planned for the weekend, which wasn't much when I heard someone hammering on the front door. I furrowed my brows in confusion but got up none-the-less. Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance and Bolt whined and ran into the garage, I had to admit it _was _pretty scary. I unlocked the door and opened it to find Santana standing, soaked, freezing and bleary eyed on my doorstep

"Santana?"

"Please, I didn't know where else to go…" She started to cry and I ushered her in I sat her down on the couch and got her a towel for her to dry herself, and another to wrap round her. I cranked up the heating and got her a mug of coffee. "I'm sorry for just turning up like this." She sniffled as I sat down next to her

"It's fine but, what happened?" I asked

"Well I went to tell my abuela that I was gay and, when I told her… She said she never wanted to see me again!" she wailed and leant against me, I wrapped my arms around her "What did I do wrong Emily? What did I do to deserve this?" she sobbed and sobbed and I rocked her gently, like Finn had done to me, I brushed a hand through her tangled hair and as her sobs turned to hiccups she asked "Why are you helping me?" she mirrored what Kurt had said the first time I met him "I've been mean and horrible to you yet you always turn everything around and help me, why?"

"Because you're my friend, and I hate to see my friends hurting. When I found out about that ad I couldn't have been angrier with Salazar and then…" I trailed off unsure of whether or not to continue but decided I might as well go for it "When Finn said you might as well come out of the closet the other day after you 'apologized' I punched him, hard, in the face."

"Really?" she looked unsure

"Yep and then I screamed at him and basically had a nervous breakdown." I admitted

"You punched Finn, the biggest guy in the school, for me?" she asked still not believing it

"Yep, all for you I was going to trash his car with a crowbar but decided a punch was better," she gave me a look as if to say _Of course you did_ "No seriously." She looked impressed I smiled at her "I love you Santana; you helped me realize I was gay, you're so special to me. I realize I can never be with you and that's okay, because…" I trailed off but she urged me on with a hand gesture "There's someone else, Amelia, she just moved in across the street and I really, really like her." She smiled

"I'm sure she's perfect, and thank you, but I should probably be going." She started to get up but thunder rumbled and I saw a flash of lightning out of the kitchen Skylight

"Oh hell no." I grabbed her shoulders and steered her round back towards the couch "It's like a freaking monsoon out there; you can stay here for the night."

"You don't mind?" She asked uncertainly

"Not at all." I smiled "You can borrow a pair of my PJs." I went up and got changed and brought Santana an old pair of my pajamas, I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea and refill Santana's coffee whilst she got changed. We stayed up talking for a while but soon we fell asleep together on the couch.

Santana gave me a lift to school in thanks for letting me spend the night. We went to her house for her to get ready and I waited in the car and listened to music. I was also thinking; I knew what I had to do today and I was certain it was right. Santana hopped into the driver's seat and I realized I had my first lesson this weekend. "Hey would you mind taking me to my driving lesson this weekend? My mum and dad are both away…" I trailed off

"Sure, mind if we take Britt as well, we kinda had plans on Saturday night." She answered

"No, not at all." I smiled and we drove off.

I hurriedly walked in the main entrance, I had to find Amelia. Luckily her locker was near mine so I managed to find her easily enough "Hey, you know how you were thinking of joining Glee club?" I asked

"Err hi, and yeah?"

"Well how would you like coming to a rehearsal this afternoon, to get a taste of what it's like?" I suggested

"That's be awesome, thank you!" she gave me a tight hug and I swear my heart stopped

"Great, meet me here at the end of the day."

"Will do, see you later!" she called over her shoulder as she went off to class I sighed and made my way to History. I still couldn't believe I was doing this, but it was the right thing to do, so I must.

The end of the day came much quicker than I expected and I wound my way through the students of McKinley High to get back to my locker and Amelia, who waited there. I smiled at the thought of her and smiled wider when I saw her. She really was gorgeous, her hair shone in the artificial light and her eyes shone even brighter. She grinned as I approached "Ready?" I asked

"Most definitely." She replied and linked her arm through mine as I led her to the choir room "So what type of thing do you do in Glee club? Aside from singing, of course."

"Well every week we have a new assignment or theme, this week we're helping Santana cope with being gay." I answered truthfully

"Is that the girl who was on that campaign ad?" she asked uncertainly

"Yeah she wasn't planning on coming out anytime soon, or at all but with that ad running she had to, so we've been helping her through song." I said "Here we are." We had reached the choir room "Wait here one sec." I walked in and over to Mr Schue "Hey Mr Schuester, I found someone who's interested in joining Glee club but I said she could come for a taster session to see if she liked it, is that okay?"

"Sure Emily, that's great." He tuned the piano

"Also I was wondering, I have an announcement, is it okay for me to say something?" I asked

"Of course." He said simply and went back to tuning the piano. I gave Amelia the thumbs up and she walked in, I offered her the seat next to me and we waited for the others to arrive. It didn't take long and once they had Mr Schue and Shelby spoke up

"Okay guys, Shelby and I just wanted to say that you really inspired us."

"When we face off at sectionals it will be with more empathy and a greater understanding of each other." Shelby added and Mr Schue chimed in

"That's right, that's right." We clapped and then Kurt congratulated Brittany on her presidential win and that he hoped she ruled wisely and fabulously.

"Emily you had something you wanted to say?" Mr Schue said and everyone turned to look at me I sucked in a deep breath and got up to go to the front. Mr Schuester and Shelby stood aside as I took center stage.

"Hello everyone," I was exceedingly nervous but carried on "this past week we have helped Santana, something I am very glad we did, but without even knowing it, you all helped me too." Everyone looked confused now, except Santana who had caught on and assumed what I was about to do "When I came to America, I had no friends, no understanding of life and no spirit. Now after meeting all of you and coming to love every single one of you I have accomplished all of the above. Aside from that I have learned things about myself I never thought I would be, and that thing is…" I trailed off and a tear ran down my cheek "I'm gay." The room went deadly silent and I looked each of them in the eye as I spoke "I'm gay and nothing is going to change that, it's the way I am I can't help it but this week, actually the past month I have come to accept that and seeing you all help Santana come to terms with that this week, it made me be honest with myself and it helped me be honest with all of you too. I haven't told my parents yet but when they come back from Oregon on Sunday I will. Thank you, every single one of you, you have helped me more than you will ever know." I started to cry but I still smiled and Santana stood up and walked over to me

"You are amazing." I barked a laugh and she hugged me, I wiped the tears from my face and the Glee club clapped, to my surprise so did Amelia and I added

"Now, everyone else has had the chance to serenade you Santana, I believe it's my turn." I grinned and sniffed she sat back down and I got a stool to sit on, the band set themselves up, I had given them the music a couple of days ago and told them I was singing today. "This is for all of you, so you know you are never alone." The guitar and synthesizer on the piano kicked in and I started to sing

'_Slowly fading away  
you're lost and so afraid  
where is the hope in a world so cold?  
Looking for a distant light  
someone who could save a life_

_Can you save me now?_

_I am with you  
I will carry you through it all  
I won't leave you I will catch you  
when you feel like letting go  
'cause you're not, you're not alone_

_Your heart is full of broken dreams__  
__Just a fading memory  
and everything's gone but the pain carries on_

_But I, I am here_

_And I'll be your hope when you feel like it's over  
And I will pick you up when your whole world shatters  
And when you're finally in my arms  
Look up and see love has a face_

_I am with you  
I will carry you through it all  
I won't leave you I will catch you  
when you feel like letting go  
'cause you're not, you're not alone_

_And I will be your hope  
and I will pick you up  
and I will be your hope  
and I will be your hope_

_Slow fading away  
you're lost and so afraid  
Where is the hope in a world so cold?_

_I am here.'_

A couple more tears slid down my face as Santana leapt up and gave me a huge hug

"Thank you."

"No, thank you." I replied "You've helped me more than anyone ever has." I squeezed back and sat back down. Amelia beamed at me

"That was beautiful, the song and the speech."

"Thanks." I smiled back and she put her hand over mine, my heart fluttered in my chest

"I wish I'd had the guts to do that at my old school." I looked at her slightly confused "I'm bisexual and I didn't have the courage to come out but I told my friend and she did it for me, she told everyone. It got it out there but it wasn't the way I wanted it to be, that was last year. This year I hope to come out the way I want to." I nodded encouragingly but my mind was on the fact that she was bi, she was _bi. _That meant I had a chance with her!

"Santana will you bring us home?" Mr Schuester asked and she obliged

"So I picked a song that gives me strength, and gets me through, the same way all of you do. Although I doubt I'll be able to even come close to that performance Emily, what a way to steal my thunder." She smiled and winked as the Glee club laughed "The struggle continues but at least I know I'm not alone." The music began and Santana beautifully sung Constant Craving a song I recognized from one of my mum's old records. The song ended and we all clapped, Brittany got up and gave Santana a big hug then suddenly Rachel came in and I wasn't really listening to the first part but the end of her sentence certainly grabbed me attention

"-I'm also banned from competing at sectionals."

I walked home from my second driving lesson, it had gone really well and walking gave me time to think I had gotten a text about 10 minutes ago, saying my parents were at home and waiting for me. I walked slightly faster; I wanted to get this over with, about 20 minutes later I was standing in front of my back door. I let out the breath I'd been holding. My hand reached forward and grabbed the cool handle, it was time. I pushed down and opened the door; my parents were busy around the kitchen and didn't notice my arrival. "Hey, how was the flight?"

"Good, how was your day?" mum replied

"Really good." I said and then added "Can I talk to you both for a moment?"

"You already are." Dad pointed out

"Yeah but like without you doing chores, or whatever it is you're doing." Dad sighed and stopped chopping what I now realized were carrots, dad turned and leant against the kitchen counter whereas mum sat at the island, my heart pounded "Okay there's something I have to tell you…" I took in a deep breath "I love girls, the way I should love guys. Mum, dad I'm gay." Dad stabbed the knife into the large wooden chopping board, he let go and it wobbled then came to a stop

"What?"

"I-I'm gay." I repeated and my father's face contorted with fury

"I heard you the first time girl!" He yelled and I heard sniffling, I turned to find my mum crying I took a step towards her but dad screamed "You stay there young lady!" he walked over to mum and rubbed her shoulder she whimpered

"How could you? How could you do this to us?" this time it was my turn to be furious

"You think I want this? You think I want to make you cry!?"

"Clearly you do otherwise you wouldn't be this way!" dad shouted and I growled

"It's not a choice dad."

"Do not call me that!" he screamed "I am no longer your father, nor is Stephanie your mother! You are going to leave this house and not come back until we have left for Italy tomorrow! Get a bag and stay at one of your friends houses, I don't care where as long as you're not here!"

"You're kicking me out!?" I yelled in disbelief

"Yes are you stupid girl? You are many things, an abomination, a sinner but you are not stupid! Now pack a bag and get out of my sight!" Tears welled in my eyes and I raced upstairs and stuffed some clothes, my phone some money and my makeup and toiletries in my overnight bag. I ran back downstairs and my father chucked a lead at me. "And take that infernal mutt with you!" The tears flowed freely down my face.

"I hope you stay in Italy forever!" I yelled and before I slammed the door I heard him screech

"We just might!" Then I got Bolt and raced down the street unsure of where to go.

After an hour of walking aimlessly I smacked myself in the forehead. Amelia's house! But would she let me in? We barely knew each other but hopefully she would take pity on me. I made my way back, or rather Bolt dragged me back, it was beginning to get cold and I was shivering. In my haste to get away from my parents I had neglected to get a jacket. I shivered again, I was a block away and I felt as if I was going to breakdown. I whimpered and Bolt looked up at me with shiny eyes. I muttered "What am I going to do boy? I'm gay, my parents have kicked me out and I think I love someone." I started to cry and I cried hard, it was freezing and the tears burned my cold cheeks. I sobbed and started to run, Bolt racing alongside me, I eventually made it to Amelia's house and I rang the doorbell. She came to the door quite quickly and when she opened the door my face crumpled and I wailed "My parents kicked me out because I'm gay, I have nowhere to go, what am I going to do?" she pulled me into a hug "I didn't know who to go to, or where to go, I'm sorry." I cried into her shoulder

"It's okay, you can stay with me as long as you need, my dad won't mind. He knows I'm bi so we can tell him why you got kicked out, he won't mind you staying over, he was asking me earlier about having a friend to stay the night." She stroked my hair and despite the situation, I was in complete bliss.

"What about my dog?" I asked and pulled back

"What do you mean?" she replied with another question

"They kicked him out with me." I smiled sheepishly

"He can stay in the garage, come on." She grabbed my hand that wasn't holding Bolt and led us round to the door of her garage. She opened the door and took the lead from my hand and led him inside. She then shut the door behind her and led me back into the house. I sighed once I was in the warmth and admired her house; it was a bit smaller than mine but was more homely and less…sterile. She let go of my hand "Dad!" she called and the man I had seen the other day came halfway down the stairs, when noticed me he looked confused "This is Emily, she told her parents she was a lesbian and they kicked her out. Is it okay of she stays with us?"

"Oh that's awful of course she can stay, would you like anything Emily?" He directed the last part at me

"No thank you Mr Graham."

"Oh please call me James." He smiled

"Oh and by the way, her dog's in our garage, they kicked him out with her." He nodded

"I know, I have a strange family."

"Okay, don't go to bed too late you two, and no funny buisness." Both our eyebrows shot up and I stuttered out

"O-oh no I-I would never d-d-do anything like that!" I put my hands up, as if in surrender and Amelia groaned

"Dad, seriously? You pull that joke every time I have a girl over." And I looked at her, then at her dad who was laughing

"Works every time." He winked and went back upstairs

"Jesus, I swear to God I just crapped myself."

"Yeah the first few times I did that but now I'm used to it. You know he says it to my friends that are straight as well." I chortled and then the gravity of the situation hit me and I fell to the floor crying "Emily, what's wrong?"

"Everything! I've been kicked out, rejected and ridiculed, everything's gone wrong!" I sobbed and she sat down next to me

"By your parents yes but not by your friends, after Glee club on Friday I wanted to find more out about you, so I went digging. I talked to Santana, Kurt, and Finn, Brittany-which was a bit of a dead end but still helpful, Mercedes and also Mike and Tina." I looked up into her blue eyes "You know what they said?" I shook my head "Santana said you were inspirational, Kurt; an angel, Finn; a great teacher, Brittany' Magical, Mercedes said you were her home-girl, Mike said you were an amazing dancer and amazing person and then Tina said you shone like a star."

"R-really?" I asked in disbelief

"Yes, they love you Emily and so do I, you're amazing." She smiled at me and my heart fluttered with her words

"Thank you."

"No problem babe, do you want some tea?" she asked and got up

"Because I'm English?"

"No because you look freezing, and besides I hate coffee." I grinned at her

"Same here." She went into the kitchen and I got up and sat on the couch, I had a warm feeling inside me from hearing what my friends had had to say about me. Amelia came back in with two mugs and offered one to me "Thank you." I took it and the hot mug instantly warmed my hands. We talked for a while longer, my eyes never left her face, before going upstairs to bed, she had a large king-size and asked if I minded sharing. I might have replied a little too quickly but I didn't care, and when I was still awake and Amelia was asleep she rolled over and put her arm around me. I smiled and fell into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
